Mystery Twins: The Last Hurrah
by ConiferousSiblings
Summary: A fic with an older pair of Pine Twins (just graduated from High School) deciding to take one last summer trip to Gravity Falls together before they have to head off to college. Gonna warn you, along the way it will get pretty Pinecest-y so if that isn't your thing just don't read it.
1. Chapter 1

_June 4th_

"Mabel, have you _finally_ finished packing?" Dipper called from across the hall, only a slight note of irritation in his voice.

"Almost bro – what do you think will come more in handy: that weird bracelet-thingy that we found that lets you talk to plants, or the growy-shrinky crystal?" she called back at him.

"None of the plants we talked to had anything useful to say... they just kept going on and on about rainfall patterns and carpenter ants – I'd go for the crystal."

"I dunno, I thought that one squash gave some pretty good advice but I guess you're right. Alright, just have to crush... this ...down!" she paused, grunting with effort as she compressed the massively overstuffed suitcase resting on her bed shut and barely managed to slip the worn metal latch in place before slumping off with a sigh. "All done!"

"Jeez Mabel, sure you haven't forgotten anything?" Dipper asked sarcastically as he looked in from the doorway, his faded blue pine-tree hat already on his head and a heavy backpack slung across one shoulder.

Time had been kind to the Pine twins, now fresh out of highschool. Dipper had shot up until he was a half a head taller than his sister, and while he wasn't exactly a bodybuilder he had filled out beyond the noodly arms of his pre-teen self. He'd even taken to trying to grow a goatee, though he still couldn't manage more than a small patch of scruff on his pointed chin. Mabel meanwhile, had a straight white smile beaming from her face in place of her old braces in addition to her fuller figure – she had had more guys lining up to ask her out than she could have ever imagined when she was younger, though most of her relationships didn't survive very long due to her... intensity.

"Oh, so Mr. 37 point plan is criticizing me for being over-prepared?" she retorted with a smile as she sat back down on her bed, resting her arm on the bulging suitcase, causing it to creak slightly from stress.

"I... have nothing to respond to that with actually." Dipper set his bag against the door frame and sat down next to his sister, catching a glimpse of their reflections in the large round mirror across from the bed. So alike and yet so different – the harsher angles of his face with its heavier brow and sharp cheekbones contrasted against his twins oval face and soft lips. _We've been growing apart for a while now, _he thought, _and not just in appearance.I guess thats partly why I've been looking forward to this trip for so long. _

"You think grunkle Stan will be surprised to see us?" Mabel asked to break the slightly awkward pause.

Dipper shrugged, "If anything can still surprise him after living in that town for so long then I guess he will be. Pleasantly surprised though, I hope."

"Its going to be great to see everyone again! I hope they haven't forgotten about us... we did stay home for the summer last year after all."

"You've been Skype-ing with Candy and Grenda all through the school year, I'm pretty sure that your best friends still remember you. Anyway last summer sucked... its going to be good to head up and see Gravity Falls again. Might be the last time we get to see it for a while what with, y'know, college and all."

"Yeah." Mabel shuffled her feet awkwardly on the thick turquoise carpet, "Do you ever get kind of freaked out about that Dip? College I mean."

"Sometimes. Especially since we got accepted at different places. I mean, at least they are both in the same state but still, it would be... I dunno, the first time that we're going to be really apart."

"Well the drives only a few hours, so its not like we won't ever see each other." she said, but there was a note of resignation in her voice. _But we won't see each other for a while and there isn't any avoiding that._

A small cloud hung over the room before Dipper broke the silence with a sharp slap on his knee and he said with slightly forced gaiety, "Well that's why this trip is so important after all! We've been saving up for this all year now... our last big adventure before we have to grow up. Lets make the most of it!"

Mabel beamed back at him, "You're right Dipper! No more moping – lets enjoy the time we have instead of thinking about the time we won't!" She brought her own hand down sharply on the suitcase, mirroring his gesture. Unfortunately this caused the overstuffed bag to burst open, fountaining out colorful sweaters and all manner of strange trinkets across the room.

"Right after we help you re-pack that is."


	2. Chapter 2

_June 5th_

A somewhat dented-up blue sedan trundled along the empty stretch of tree-lined highway, its frame shaking and shuddering slightly despite the fact that the road was smooth as glass from the lack of traffic. Dipper would be the first to admit that his beat up old car probably wasn't the best machine on the road, but he had an affection for it since he'd saved up the money from his part time jobs to buy it himself. At least the CD player worked well enough, and his fingers beat a tune on the steering wheel as he hummed along with the singer belting out her tune in heavily accented English from the speaker.

"C'mon Dip, its been 3 hours – do you have anything other than Babba in this car?" Mabel groaned from the passengers seat.

"Hey, you know the rules we agreed on when we set out yesterday – the person driving gets to pick the radio station or CD. I had to sit through your endless collection of 80's music last night and you didn't hear me complaining."

"You're complaining right now," she teased sticking her tongue out, "and anyway you should be thankful to have your mind broadened with some real classical art for once."

"At least you grew out of your boy band phase years ago. I think if I had to listen to any of your old Sevr'l Timez albums I might have just shot myself before my brain melted." They both had a laugh, and Dipper reached down and changed the radio station without a word. Mabel gave him a small smile of thanks at the gesture.

"It's so weird to think about how time passes. Do you remember when we first came up here when we were in Middle School? That was one of the best summers of my life!" she exclaimed with one of her characteristic bursts of excitement.

"I know, right? The mystery! The adventures. All the people we met." he felt his heart race slightly, _and of course all the danger, the fear and the weirdness, but lets ignore that for now._

"Especially Wendy, am I right?" Mabel chirped as she nudged him in the ribs and waggled her eyebrows exaggeratedly.

Dipper blushed, "She was cool, yeah."

"You had the hugest crush on her! Oh man, can you imagine how awkward it was for her to have some preteen nerd sighing after her all summer?" she laughed, "Such a dork!"

"Hey, I got over my dorkishness." he muttered defensively.

"Sure thing bro-bro, you were a big hit with the ladies of science club back home." Mabel teased. She always knew how to get under his skin better than anyone.

"No teasing me about my love life sis- you dated outside the species once." Dipper replied playfully, but with a slight edge.

"What?" she asked, perplexed.

"That mermaid guy, remember?"

"Oh c'mon, that was a summer crush 6 years ago!",

"If Wendy still counts as teasing material so does he. At least we were still kids then so nothing went too far – can you imagine trying to get frisky with a fishman?"

"Ew! Gross Dip!" Mabel snorted.

"Seriously though, how would that even work? I didn't notice any kind of mer-junk… do you think it was retractable or something?"

"Ok, you've already put way too much thought into this so we're cutting this off right now"

"Fair enough, let us never speak of this again." Dipper said dryly. This is what he'd been missing after highschool had split them up with its cliques, clubs and separate classes. He missed the closeness, the banter and knowing that there was someone who always had his back around.

_Kind of a shame to get it back right before I'm going to lose it again though, _he thought gloomily to himself as the radio belted out a commercial for a local car dealership that apparently had "Dynamite Deals Deals Deals!"

"Hey, Mabel – you mind if we pull over at this next rest stop? I need to stretch my legs before my foot becomes permanently grafted to the gas pedal."

"Sure thing, but when we do I'm taking the next turn driving. I still have 3 whole albums of mind-expanding music to educate you with." Though his eyes were on the road Dipper could hear the wide grin just from her tone of voice.

"This is payback for the mer-junk crack isn't it?" he joked.

"If you choose to see it that way, its up to you." she replied haughtily.

The rest stop was fairly well maintained and just as empty as the main road had been earlier when they had been driving along. Dipper lay stretched out on a bench with his cap pulled down over his eyes and sighed deeply in contentment. The birds sang, the wind blew serenely through the high tree tops and best of all Mabel couldn't find those other 3 albums that she swore she had packed the night before. Dipper may, or may not, have kicked them under her bed when they had worked together recovering and re-packing her possessions from the exploded suitcase but she wouldn't be hearing it from him and the chirping birds were quite silent on the subject of musical sabotage.

_Probably for the best that we didn't bring them anyway, _he thought to himself to justify his admittedly dickish action, _she was already bringing enough stuff to break a donkeys back without adding the extra weight. _

Over the years the twins had accumulated a very impressive collection of odd and vaguely occult junk, and while he had been hesitant at first about its use he had grown more comfortable with these little trinkets and artifacts over time. The Presidents key that hung on a chain around his neck had gotten him out of more than one tight spot and he knew that Mabel kept her grappling hook with her at all times, even finding ways to sneak it into school and once (to his impressed horror) past airport security. This summer they didn't want to take any chances and took along as much as they could in case Gravity Falls trademark blend of small town oddness and actual supernatural activity started to drag them in again.

Mabel plopped down on the bench beside him and said "Suspiciously it seems that my albums have grown wings and flown off at some point in the night or, more likely, been hidden by some jerkwad. Do you think this is a case for the Mystery Twins, or would you want to just confess right now?"

"I plead the fifth," Dipper replied.

"I did find this though while digging through the bag... I was going to give it to you after we were done with the trip. You know, before we left back home to get to school... but I think I want you to have it now." Mabel handed him a thick rectangular bundle wrapped up in butcher paper and twine.

Dipper sat up and peeled off the packaging to reveal a book with a reddish faux-leather cover and a strange six-fingered hand painted on the cover in thick gold ink – the number 4 stark black in the center of its palm. Dipper turned to her excitedly, "Mabel, where did you get this!"

"I made it you dork!" she snorted, "Open it up and check it out."

Confused, Dipper cracked open the pages to reveal various photos and newspaper clippings pasted into the page, along with Mabels careful but oddly stylized pen and ink drawings and odd objects such as strange scales, pressed flowers and what Dipper was sure was gnome beard hair. "You made this?"

"Yeah. I know how much this mystery stuff means to you so I've been saving little mementos from our trips. I thought you'd like having your own journal to work on... I left the back half blank so you can put your future exploits down."

Dipper ran his fingers over the thick pages and turned to his sister, a soft smile on his face. "Thank you Mabel... I... this is just an amazing gift."

"Well you know, I'm great so of course my gifts would be amazing," she said jokingly. "Anyway I realized it would make more sense to give it to you now before we arrived at Weirdsville, USA just in case you found something worth putting into the book."

"Knowing Gravity Falls I might get it filled up in the first week."


	3. Chapter 3

_June 5th_

The twins arrived, sleepily, at a small town in Washington state near midnight. They were both extremely tired from a long day of driving and desperate for a place to sleep. Fortunately the area was on a more well traveled stretch of road and had a few small motels in the area with cheap, if not overly comfortable, rooms and they were able to get themselves tucked away without any trouble.

As they settled in for the night into the twin beds with their somewhat scratchy lime green sheets they heard the soft fall of rain coming down outside and pattering against the dusty window of the room like soothing music, but Mabel found herself unable to sleep. Her brothers slow, even breathing from the bed next to hers was causing her to drift into memories of those long summers in the attic of the Mystery Shack... it had been years since they shared a room at home, ever since puberty with all its disruptions had come on full force and their parents had decided to clear out her fathers den to turn into Dippers new room. Those first few nights had been the hardest, she had slept with those same familiar grumbles and breathing all her life and the silence had been deafening. Hearing it again, now that she had grown used to sleeping alone, was jarring. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed that sound.

She thought back on the ride up and the hours that they had spent joking, reminiscing and just generally bantering back and forth in the car and realized with a start that this was the most time that she'd spent with Dipper in almost a year. It had been so _fun_... why had they ever stopped hanging out like this? What had started to drag them apart? Was this how it was going to be from now on? She'd been overjoyed to see the look on his face earlier when he had unwrapped the scrapbook/journal that she'd given him, but now the thought of him taking to book off to college while she went to art school on the opposite side of the state just made her heart ache.

"Hey... Dip..." she whispered quietly.. "Dipper...DIPPER!" she finished, not quite as quietly.

"Huh.. who... whuzza?" he grumbled blearily.

"Oh, good... you're awake." she whispered, back at her original volume.

"I guess I am." he groaned quietly.

"I was just thinking -" _How do I put this into words? How do you tell your brother you are afraid of losing him without sounding pathetic or creepy? _She gave up and just hastily blurted out "I was wondering...um... what are you going to do after college?"

"This is what you wake me up for?" he grumbled. "I dunno... I was thinking of maybe going into journalism."

"Journalism? Like a reporter or something?" she said.

"Yeah. I guess it just seems like a good idea. Its solid work and I think I'm not bad at investigating."

"You investigate weird stuff though... can you imagine trying to turn in a story about Gnome migrations to the New York Times?"

"Gnomes are real though!"

"Well yeah, we both know that – but anyone back home we tried to tell about our adventures thought we were nuts. We had to change schools after all the fights you got into from idiots picking on you."

"I remember, I was there. Glad that Stan had given me a few of his old boxing tips, otherwise it might have gone a lot worse for me. Anyway those were just dumb kids though, I'm sure that rational adults will be able to accept... gnomes? Crap. I don't know, with some video evidence maybe... but then everyone would say it was faked... Oh god, I'm going to end up like that guy with the weird hair on the History channel aren't I?" he said, with a note of panic in his voice.

"It's a possibility." she replied wryly.

"Well ok... maybe I don't know what I want yet. I'm 18, its not a crime to not have your whole life planned out at this point. What about you? What do you want to do when you get out of art school?"

"Thats the thing Dipper – I don't have a plan. I'm mostly just going because I like doing arts and crafts... but I don't think its something you do for a living.

"Are you kidding? Mabel you are ridiculously talented – you made a life size replica of Stan out of wax when you were 12! You have the chops to be a serious artist if you put your mind to it."

"What if I don't want to put my mind to it though? I love drawing and sculpting and stuff... but they are just hobbies to me. Fun stuff to do. I don't see myself going around wearing a beret at art shows talking about what my stuff 'means'. I'd feel like a huge poser."

"Well, there's all sorts of stuff you can do with art... you could do movie special effects or advertising... maybe even make a cartoon - you used to watch a lot of them."

"Heh, yeah- I loved those old Disney cartoons! The Warner Brothers ones were funnier though." she said.

Thunder rumbled ominously outside.

"Anyway, why all this talk about the future?" Dipper asked with a yawn.

"Because I'm worried about us." she said quietly.

"I think we'll do ok, we're pretty smart and I think we can get by."

"I don't mean that I'm worried about me. I'm worried about _us_, you know – the two of us. I start thinking of the fact that we'll both be moving out and not sharing a roof for the first time in our whole lives and I start freaking out." she said with a catch in her voice "Does that make me weird? Is this weird to hear?"

Dipper was silent for a moment before replying, "I don't think you're weird. Silly yes, but not weird." he sighed "The truth is I've been thinking the same thing. Everyone is always going on about growing up and what it means. Growing up is leaving the house, leaving your family and then finding something that pays money and doing it for the rest of your life."

"Growing up is a butt."

"Well why does it have to be?" he said forcefully, "Why do I have to cut all my ties and just become this whole different person to be considered an adult? Why should I have to lose my best friend?"

"I'm your best friend?" she asked quietly.

"Um... yeah." he said sheepishly. "I don't care if its lame or whatever but I've always thought of you as my friend, not just my family. Like even if we weren't related I'd have wanted to hang out with you like we used to. I don't know... I feel like we've been drifting lately – there's a lot I don't know about you now and it makes me kind of sad. I mean, I guess it makes sense that we'd tend to stick with friends more than family as we grew older... but I'd always thought of you as my best friend, not just my sister."

"I was thinking that earlier too... about how I miss our closeness. Thats the real reason I woke you up actually... just seeing you flip through the journal, and all those pictures of us together on our summers. It made me realize that I don't want this to be our last summer either. I don't want to lose you Dipper." her voice cracked with emotion and she held back a sniffle.

"I don't want to lose you either... I don't want this completely amazing person who I've spent my whole life with to just become someone that I see on Christmas and Thanksgiving get-togethers. I don't want the only person who really, really understands me to become a stranger."

"Well... what can we do?" she asked after several moments of near silence, broken only by the rain growing more intense outside their window.

"I don't know yet... but I do know that I'm going to come up with something. To tell you the truth I was just getting kind of resigned to the idea that this inevitable... but knowing that you feel this way too... I don't know, it makes me think that we can do something about it."

"Me too."

"We have some more time before we make it to Gravity Falls... I'm sure I'll have a foolproof plan by then. For now though lets get some sleep – I don't want to pass out on the road tomorrow."

"Ok. G'night Dipper." she whispered, and added quietly, "Love you bro."

As she settled in to her pillow she heard a faint whisper in return, "Love you too sis."


	4. Chapter 4

_June 6__th_

The day dawned crisp and unseasonably cool after the heavy rains last night, but the Pine twins weren't able to witness its golden-pink splendor because they slept right through it. They had been so tired from yesterdays driving and their fitful night that they didn't actually awaken until they heard the maid pounding on the door saying that checkout time was coming up in 10 minutes unless they felt like paying for an extra day. Dipper and Mabel quickly dressed, unfortunately missing out on the chance for a morning shower, and found themselves driving into the heart of the small town looking for breakfast. They had both had enough of the trail mix that Dipper had packed on the road yesterday to last them for quite a while and needed something more filling if they were to spend another day driving up through the long twisted back-roads that lead to their great-uncles home up in Gravity Falls. Mabel spotted a small diner that looked like it had fallen right out of the Fifties and practically yanked Dippers arms from the steering wheel to pull them into the parking lot.

The interior was an odd mixture of modern and old fixtures, with a brand new LCD television on a bracket above the lunch counter, but with an abundance of old fashioned neon lights and chromed swivel chairs that were some old time architects idea of what the future would look like. The few locals inside turned curiously when they saw the twins come in through the door but soon turned back to their breakfasts and conversations. The large balding man behind the counter took their order with a grunt and left them at the counter with two mugs of scalding hot black coffee.

"I don't know why you always want to stop at these kinds of places Mabel." Dipper groused quietly as he sipped the bitter coffee, which tasted like it had been stewing all night.

"For the atmosphere! Not to mention the suspense."

"The suspense?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah, you could eat at a McDonalds anywhere and always know what you are going to get and how it tastes, but when you stop somewhere like this you never know what to expect." she said perkily as she sipped her coffee, cringing faintly at the taste.

"That's true. I, for one, didn't actually know it was possible to make coffee out of battery acid." he said, whispering the last part quietly as she stifled a giggle.

"C'mon, its not that bad you baby..." she took a longer sip and shuddered, "ugh.. battery acid and cat pee more like. Maybe some sugar will help?"

Dipper smiled as he watched his sister screw off the top of the sugar shaker and pour a very generous heap directly into the mug as she stirred it slowly with a look of concentration not unlike some mad old alchemist working on a potion. She'd always had an iron stomach, and enough optimism about the limits of what could be considered edible to need it. When she started coughing and spluttering from her first careful sip of the new mixture he hastily turned up at the television to avoid the sight of Mabel scrubbing her tongue against the sleeve of her poofy fuchsia sweater.

The program appeared to be the local news station, with a plump reporter with an obvious comb-over standing in a field surveying the damage caused by the storm the night before (which Dipper personally had thought of as more of an enthusiastic drizzle, but figured that in a town this small that they were desperate for news to fill the airtime). The volume was turned too low to really hear anything that was being said, but he saw the reporter was interviewing a rail thin white haired old man who looked like he could have been the long lost brother of old man McGuckett. He seemed wild eyed appeared to be talking excitedly, and the screen text revealed him to be Jeddidiah Stevens, local farmer. Stevens was making wide and frantic arm gestures and pointing to a spot on the roof of his faded sky blue ranch house where the wind appeared to have torn off quite a few of the roof tiles. Dipper was about to turn away when he noticed the scrolling news banner which now appeared along the bottom of the screen didn't mention storm damage, but instead said "Mysterious Attack from Above?". Intrigued, he watched as the focus of the screen shifted to a large indentation on the ground at the reporters feet. The camera zoomed in blurredly as the reporter knelt in the mud, placing a chubby hand beside the large depression and as the focus cleared Dipper realized it was a foot print. A very large and _very _strange three toed foot print. Dipper excitedly nudged his sister and she looked up from her current coffee improving experiment (adding cherry flavored gummy koalas to the brew) and followed his eyes to the screen.

"What do you think it is?" she whispered to him, "Bigfoot? Dinosaur? UFO?"

"Mabel, how could a UFO leave a footprint?" he asked incredulously.

"I don't know, you're the conspiracy expert – not me!" she said with a quick smile.

"Well whatever left it didn't leave it too far from here, I recognize some of those hills that are in the background as ones that we passed by on the way up here and I swear that I saw a blue building in the distance near one... would you want to go check it out?"

"What about your super anal-retentive driving schedule?"

"I think since its a surprise visit that Stan wont mind if we are a few hours late... what do you say – time for the Mystery Twins?" he said with a smile.

"Mystery Twins are go." she grinned back at him.

–

The spot mentioned wasn't as easy to find as Dipper had first expected and it was actually almost an hour before the two managed to trudge and stumble their way through the underbrush until they spotted the blue farmhouse from the news report.

"So, how do you want to do this? Do we just sneak on and try to find the tracks or should we go up to the house and ask Mr. Stevens to show us?" Mabel asked as they walked through the thicket with the farmhouse coming closer into view.

"Well I don't want us to get shot for trespassing... but at the same time he might not be too open to some curious tourists poking around his farm. We should probably think of a cover story."

"Journalism!" Mabel said excitedly, snapping her fingers.

"What?"

"We pretend that we are reporters for a magazine coming to interview him about whatever it is that he saw." Mabel said with a bright smile.

"That might work better if he hadn't just been interviewed by a television crew – maybe he's all interviewed out?" Dipper replied skeptically.

"Hey, you never know till you try Dipping-sauce... besides, our magazine is offering a bona-fide cash reward for proof of monsters, right?" she said slyly.

"I think Stan might have rubbed off on you a bit too much," Dipper said somewhat disapprovingly, "... but then again he rubbed off on me too and I don't have a better idea, so I'm all for it. Which magazine are we with?" he asked, beginning to feel his interest in the scheme grow.

"I don't know, how about one of those weird ones that you subscribe too? You know, the ones that are all like 'Bigfoot Stole My Truck!' or 'Aliens behind Cubs losing streak!'"

"I don't subscribe to that junk! I just pick it up sometimes at the supermarket when I'm bored... Its not like I read them that often."

"Sure, sure – and I'm sure those _other _magazines that dad grounded you over a few years ago were there because you really liked to read the articles." she teased back with an exaggerated wink, causing him to blush slightly and adjust the brim of his hat while loudly clearing his throat.

"Ok, focus time – lets put on our game faces. You have the camera?" she nodded and held up a heavy black monstrosity with an enormous lens and colorful stickers dotted across it, "Very professional. I've got my notebook here... wish we had some sort of press pass or ID or something... no matter, lets do this!"

The twins walked up the worn dirt path leading up to the house, and as they came up closer Dipper could see the spots along the roof where the tiles were missing – as well as some long scratches left along the exposed patches of wood. Very _big _scratches he thought nervously. They spotted the farmer coming around the side of the house with a wheelbarrow, and he stopped and stared at them quizzically for a moment before saying:

"Morning. Can I help you kids?"

"Good morning sir, I'm Tyrone Spruce and this is my associate-" Dipper began before his sister interjected,

"I'm Mabel!" she said brightly. Dipper turned at her and grunted slightly. "Mabel...Pinesanopolis."

"O...kay." the farmer replied slowly.

"We're here with _Conspiracy Weekly, _we heard all about your terrifying encounter last night and they rushed us over to get an interview." Dipper said quickly.

"_Conspiracy Weekly_? You the fellas what did that story about JFK being in league with the Loch Ness monster to fix football games?"

"Um... Yes." Dipper said, looking away as Mabel turned toward him with a grin.

"Well fantastic! I was just thinking of calling you guys up – been a fan of your work for years. How did you hear about it so fast though? Damn thing happened just last night."

"Oh an organization this... organized... always keeps its ear to the ground. They had us on the road right away." Mabel said confidently with a nod and Dipper was relieved to see the old farmer nod along with her.

"So, sir, why don't you tell us in your own words what it was that you saw?" Dipper asked, his pencil poised on the paper and a look of concentration on his face.

Stevens turned out to be a rather poor storyteller, he began by relating exactly what he had been watching on the television that night during the rain (as well as the plots of some of the shows and trying to hum out one of the theme songs), segued into telling them about a rainstorm that happened when he was a boy that he swore had lifted up one of the family cows and thrown it onto the roof of his house and then started telling them about the _cow_ that it had happened to. The twins stood with smiles frozen on their faces and Dipper nodded and pretended to be writing down the endless stream of nonsense that the old man was prattling about.

"FASCINATING!" Mabel practically shouted, startling the aged farmer out of an anecdote about a _different _cow that had won blue ribbon at the state fair, "However Di- um.. .Tyrone and I are on an _extremely _tight schedule and we need to get this story back to headquarters so they can get it all printed up. They especially wanted to make sure that I got a good shot of the heroic farmer who survived last nights deadly encounter... for the front page."

The old man had looked somewhat flustered at his diatribe being interrupted, but at the words 'heroic' and 'front page picture' he brightened up. "Well why didn't you say so! You big time journalists are always in a hurry... can't let an old man talk your head off all dang day! Where should we take this? Should I put on my good suit?"

"We were thinking that a shot of you next to the footprint would be good, very dramatic!" Dipper replied as he shot a grateful look to Mabel for managing to dam up the seemingly endless stream of babble.

Stevens lead them along the field through a somewhat muddy patch of field until they reached a spot where branches from the nearby trees and other debris had been scattered around and disturbed in a wide circle, and there was the print. It was at least two feet long from the huge middle toe to the tip of back claw and looked like a very strange birds foot. Dipper thought back to the pterodactyl he had encountered all those long summers ago at the Falls but couldn't remember if their feet had looked quite like this. Mabel was busy fussing with Stevens, having him pose in various ways near the print to get "the perfect shot", and while they were distracted he made a quick crude sketch of the print in his notebook and then started poking around the debris circle. While he wasn't an expert it reminded him of the way that helicopters kicked up quite a bit of dust and blew objects around in a wide cirlce when they came in for a landing. _This thing must be pretty large,_ he thought to himself as he examined the thickness of some of the branches, _if it was able to move things this large with just the wind from it coming in to land. _Something odd poked out from beneath one of the branches and Dipper knelt down to check it out, and found to his surprise and delight that it was a feather. A very large feather, with a quill almost as thick as his pinky that stretched out at least a foot long. Though it was soaked from last nights rain and somewhat ragged from being buried in junk he saw that its colors were a beautiful black with a sheen almost electric blue when the sunlight caught it just right. He quickly stuffed the discovery into his jacket and turned back to Mabel and the farmer who, for some reason, had switched places with Stevens holding the camera and Mabel posing enthusiastically next to the footprint.

"Mabel, I think its about time we headed back – we've taken up enough of Mr. Stevens valuable time." Dipper said as he walked up to his sister and clapped a hand on her shoulder.

The two thanked their host for his time before they started trekking back down to the farmhouse and the path near it which lead back to Dippers car. When they were out of sight of the house Dipper pulled the feather out of his jacket and showed it to Mabel who examined it excitedly.

"This is pretty fantastic... _Tyrone."_ she said with a grin.

"Its an alias! Anyway its not like its any sillier than 'Dipper'." he said defensively.

"Good point." she replied. "So whats the next step?"

"Well normally I'd say we should check the local library to see if there are any old newspaper clippings or legends about a giant bird in this area -" Dipper began before Mabel groaned, "but we've already taken enough time on this, so lets just get back on the road to Stans. This little souvenir is enough for now."

When they reached the car Dipper had an idea and pulled the old map out of the glove compartment and found the town on it and made a careful mark on the town in pen and wrote "Giant Bird?" next to it. Might be worth checking out sometime later. Satisfied, Dipper slipped the map back and turned the key on the car, the engine sputtered and coughed its way to life and the twins were once again on the road to Gravity Falls.


	5. Chapter 5

_June 6__th_

It was already nightfall by the time the twins had passed by the worn wooden sign welcoming them to Gravity Falls and Mabel was currently at the wheel belting out one of her favorite 80's power ballads at the top of her lungs in accompaniment to the radio while Dipper tried desperately to bury his face in a brick-thick mystery novel. He loved his sister, dearly, but even he had to admit that she had the singing voice of a furious parakeet. When he thought he was going to snap for sure she suddenly stopped wailing and announced:

"We're here! Last stop the Mystery Shack, keep your arms, legs and various other extremities inside until the vehicle until it has come to a complete stop."

Dipper breathed a sigh of relief and sat up from his sullen slouch to take a good look around the town once again. Not much seemed to have changed since his last visit, though he had noticed a few new businesses having sprung up here and there along the main street strip. As they passed by the familiar sights Dipper felt the last of his gloominess from the previous night drop away and a lightness fill him up. While his times in this town had been occasionally stressful, to say the least, he had to admit that Gravity Falls had some sort of hold over him that made him feel more at peace than his hometown ever did. All the things he'd discovered here over the years, the strange secret truths and hidden places had distanced him from his peers back home. It was true what Mabel had said, about the fights at their old school, but the truth of it was that it had been hard to take bullies seriously after he'd already gone toe to toe with a talking bear covered in heads or a living video game character. He'd gotten along well enough with his classmates at the new school but knowing that he had to stay silent about so much or be considered an outcast had pushed him more toward his sister as the only other person who had experienced the weirdness that was his life. Mabel had adjusted to the "real" world much easier than he had, but that probably had more to do with her cheerful and carefree attitude. Her natural silliness had kept her out of the "popular girls" circle, but her friendliness and sense of fun had still earned her plenty of friends...

"Dipper, earth to Dipper!" Mabel said, interrupting his train of thought as she jabbed him in the side with her finger, "Give Grunkle Stan a call already and let him know we've arrived – we wouldn't want to have to wake him up in the middle of the night honking the horn outside the shack, you know how crabby he gets."

Dipper shook himself from his reverie and pulled out his phone and dialed up the Mystery Shack – the phone rang for almost a minute before it was picked up and Dipper was greeted by the gruff but welcome voice of his great uncle. Stan was surprised at the news of the unexpected visit and acted annoyed, but Dipper knew him well enough to hear the gladness in the old mans voice. He said he was sure he could put them up for a bit, though considering how big they'd probably have gotten he might have to charge them rent for taking up valuable shack space. They both had a laugh while Dipper wondered just how much of it was a joke. When it came to Stan and money it could be hard to tell.

The stars were already out in force when Dippers rattling blue sedan pulled into the spot near the totem pole outside the Mystery Shack but Stan was already waiting to greet them, actually fully dressed in his tuxedo and fez – he looked like he'd even made something of an effort to shave his ever-present five-o-clock shadow. Dipper winced at all the small pieces of paper stuck to his face that showed that he had probably done it in a rush too, or at least that he'd been to cheap to switch to a sharper brand of razor. Stan actually greeted them with a hug, which was surprising from him, though he had turned the hug into a headlock when it was Dippers turn and the two had a light hearted tussle. Dinner that night was some of their great-uncles infamous brown meat stew, and he demanded to hear how things had been going back home. Dipper and Mabel related their various accomplishments (Dippers victory at the science fair was met with a good natured cry of "Nerd!" while Mabel got an "Atta-girl!" for winning the top prize a local talent show by teaching Waddles to dance while wearing an adorable costume). Things had gone on as usual in the Shack according to Stan, though Soos had been promoted to part time cashier as well as handyman since Wendy had gone off to college a few years ago. They talked until the small hours when Stan announced that he couldn't stay up much longer and asked the twins where they were planning on sleeping. He offered them Soos's break room, but Dipper and Mabel shook their heads.

"We were thinking of the attic actually. You know, for old times sake." Dipper said with a yawn.

"Heh, well whatever suits you. Personally I'm not sure how you kids could stand it as long as you did up there." Stan said as he headed off to his room.

Dipper and Mabel hauled in their well stuffed bags up the rickety old stairs and found themselves once again in the dark and spider-infested room above the shack. They quickly settled into the lumpy old mattresses in the familiar darkness, Mabel's old faded posters still on the wall over her side and the remains of their old mini-golf course still scattered here and there on the floor.

"Feels weird to be back doesn't it?" Mabel said sleepily.

"I don't know... feels nice to me." Dipper replied, "Not this mattress though. This thing still feels like its stuffed with whole sheep, bones and all."

"Sorry for dragging you away from the whole giant bird thing earlier today. Not very Mystery Twin of me I guess."

"Its ok- I'll just go check it out later, when I have more time, y'know? I want to spend this vacation just having some fun with you and enjoying the town. No need to drag you into another one of these things." Dipper answered, his eyes growing heavy with sleep.

"Hey, I normally have a lot of fun with this junk too... I had just really wanted to see Stan again. I'd missed the old rapscallion." she said, her voice growing dim in his ears as he drifted off.

Mabel heard the start of her brothers faint snores and she smiled to herself as she snuggled into her uncomfortable bed. He'd looked so _alive _when they had been out in that farmers field examining the footprint, and she had to admit that she'd felt a bit of a thrill herself. While the mysteries were more his thing she was very into the adventure of seeing new sights and having new experiences... they made a pretty great team when they worked together. He'd been in kind of a funk through their last year at high school, even though they hadn't hung out as much she'd still noticed it, and seeing him getting really excited about something again was a great feeling.

She looked across the room to her sleeping brother and thought again on their conversation from the night before. _Dipper called me an amazing person, _she thought, _and the truth is I think he's pretty amazing too. He's sweet and such a softy at heart, but he's braver than anyone else I've ever met. He took on a giant robot with just his bare hands to save me once. The last guy I dated couldn't even sit through a cheesy horror movie with me. _She paused, slightly startled. _Why did I just compare Dipper to one of my exes? _She shook herself slightly, _Its just late and you're getting loopy Mabel._

Pushing the last thought well out of her mind Mabel started thinking about their as yet unmade plan to stick together despite things like college and life getting in the way. _Maybe one of us can switch schools? No... I don't have the grades for Dippers school and he can't even draw a good stick figure so art school is out of the question for him. Maybe something involving hypnosis? No, thats stupid. _She yawned loudly. _We'll figure it out soon though, _she thought as she drifted off into dreamland, _one way or another we'll find a way to stick together._


	6. Chapter 6

_June 9__th_

The past 3 days had gone by in a whirlwind of activity, with the Pine twins finding themselves hard at work in the Mystery Shack; though with added responsibilities compared to their previous times manning the old tourist trap. Mabel had been promoted to cashier in place of Soos (though Stan hastily promoted him to Executive Handyman after he looked wounded by the decision) and Dipper had been tasked with leading the guided tours himself while Stan busied himself with a secret project of some sort that took up most of his time. Dipper suspected that Stans "secret project" was probably just an excuse to spend more time relaxing at the pool hall with his friends from the Lodge, but he didn't mind too badly since he'd actually started to enjoy putting on a show for the groups of rubes who streamed into the out-of-the way old building to gaze in wonder at such attractions as "The Terrifying Eagle Bodied Griffon" (a stuffed eagle covered in glitter) or "the Jackassalope" (a donkey head with antlers glued to it... also covered in glitter). Back when he first started coming here with Mabel he'd resented the shacks corny attractions after all his encounters with real magic and horror, but over the years he'd come to enjoy the creativity of the exhibits and especially his great-uncles ability to bring out the magic in what was clearly a bunch of old junk. When Dipper had tried to present an actual monster captured from those demon haunted woods to the crowds they'd looked for the wires holding it up, but his uncle could convince people to pay top dollar just to get a glimpse of a bunch of his old hunting trophies hastily glued together. Dipper had taken to studying the old man when he was in full showmanship mode and had even managed to do a passable impersonation of his style, which never failed to get a laugh out of Mabel even when she was feeling down in the dumps. He caught her eye as he lead the newest group of suckers into the gift shop and put on his "Stan face" while rubbing his hands together greedily as the tourists swarmed over the gimmicky merchandise and she stifled a giggle in the sleeve of her sweater (a navy blue monstrosity with a smiling moon embroidered on it in silvery thread).

Dipper made his way through the crowd and up to the counter and whispered to Mabel, "Sis, I'm going to head upstairs for a while, I think I saw some stuff up in the attic that might make for a good exhibit. Can you keep an eye on things for a bit?"

"Pfft, no problem bro-bro, Mabel has it covered." she said with a mock salute. Dipper nodded and then headed out toward the shacks living quarters while the customers started lining up with their various goods.

Mabel was quickly buried in money as the tourists left the shack with armfuls of overpriced junk. While she was busy counting up the totals after the last customer had left she was startled by a tap on her shoulder and the sound of "Hey dork." in a cheerful feminine voice.

"Wendy!" Mabel exclaimed, scattering money as she turned to crush her old companion in a friendly bear hug.

"Gah! Easy there girl... gonna want to breathe again eventually." Wendy joked as she patted Mabel's back.

It had been a few years since Mabel had seen the tall red-head and was surprised by the changes that had come over her. The last of Wendy's teenage gawkiness had been softened out and her features had taken on a more mature cast. Her hair was cut shorter into a kind of rough punk-y style and Mabel thought she could see the edges of some colorful tattoos peeking out from under the sleeves of Wendy's flannel shirt.

"So, hows college been?" Mabel asked as she released her crushing grip on her old friend.

Wendy shrugged, "The homeworks tough but I just have one more year of it to go until graduation – I've heard that its you guys who are going to be entering in the fall. Congrats!"

"Wait, what are you even doing here? I thought your school was way on the other side of the state? Are you back to visit your family?" Mabel asked.

"Heh, yeah. Crazy coincidence that I just happened to run into you here." Wendy said with a chuckle, her eyes shifting around slightly.

Mabel narrowed her eyes and jabbed Wendy playfully in the chest with her finger, "Spill it sister."

"Ugh, fine... I suck at lying anyway. Stan's planning on throwing a party for you guys and it was my job to get you both distracted and out of the shack for the afternoon while he sets it up."

"Wait, Grunkle Stan is doing this right? The same guy who has to practically have money dragged out of him with red hot pokers is going out of his way to throw us a surprise party?"

"Yeah, well what can I say? You two have been a good influence on the old coot. You're also pretty much the only people who visit him voluntarily that aren't his employees, so I guess it makes you guys special to him."

Mabel felt herself smile wide. She'd always known that her great-uncle wasn't as crusty as he made himself seem, but it was still touching to hear how much he cared about her and her brother. "Well, I don't want to ruin his plans – let me go get Dipper and you can distract us to your hearts content. What did you have in mind?"

"I dunno, I was just figuring on hitting up the arcade or maybe catching a movie." Wendy said with a shrug.

"Sounds perfect – I'll go extract Dipper from whatever corner of the attic he's gotten himself stuffed into." Mabel said, before skipping off toward the stairs.

She found Dipper with his head buried in some of the piles of cardboard boxes that were jammed up in the cavernous old attic, clearly distracted. With a small smile to herself Mabel quietly tip-toed over to him, knelt beside the box he was inspecting and shouted "WENDY'S HERE!", sending her brother bowling head over heels to end up lying flat on his back and panting.

"Not funny Mabel." Dipper growled as he stood up, pushing aside the debris thrown up by his fall.

"Sorry. I wasn't kidding though, Wendy's downstairs. She came to visit her family and heard we were in town, so we were gonna go off to the arcade. You're coming, right?"

Dipper sat bolt upright and looked around in almost a near panic. "Wendy? Here? Now?"

Mabel shook her head with a chuckle, "What was all that in the car about 'getting over your dorkishness?'. You've still got it bad don't you bro? Tell you what, I'll keep her distracted downstairs for a bit while you fix yourself up and then we can all head into town."

Dipper smiled gratefully at his sister before darting over to his suitcase trying to find a clean shirt, or at least one that didn't smell like he'd been wearing it all through a hot summer day. _It's not like I'm still in love with Wendy or anything, _Dipper thought to himself as he pawed through his pile of clothes, _its just that I don't want to show up looking like a slob. I mean, no one wants to smell like old sweat in front of a hot girl. Crap, I just called her a hot girl. Am I still into her? Stop it Dipper, you haven't seen her in 2 or 3 years, this is just old memories talking. We're cooler than that now. We've actually dated girls. No need to act like a hormone crazed 12 year old again just because she was our first big crush. Don't I have anything to wear that doesn't have a dorky logo on it? Why do I still even have this Monstermon shirt? _

"D-iiiiipper!" Mabel called from downstairs, "If you take any longer we're leaving you behind!"

_Screw it, _Dipper said as he pulled on a plain black tee-shirt and set his cap on his head firmly over his birthmark, _I'm as cool as I'm ever gonna be right now, so might as well just go for it!_

"Hold your horses! I'm going down already!" he called.

"That's what she said!" he heard Wendy call back up with a laugh and he felt himself actually redden slightly in the ears. _Curse my bashful upbringing!_

Dipper made his way down the stairs and said in, what was to his mind, a casual tone "Oh, hey – Wendy. Hows it going, long time right?" Though she had always towered over him when he was younger he was surprised to see that he was actually an inch taller than her now when finally reached the bottom stair.

Wendy smiled up at him and gave him a look up and down, "Well look at you, all grown up. Should I call you Big Dipper now?" she said teasingly with a chuckle.

Dipper felt himself redden again and coughed slightly, at a loss for words until he felt Mabel's arm come up behind his neck as she pulled him and Wendy into a friendly headlock.

"Enough chit-chat, I thought we were going to be off rotting our brains with video games instead of babbling all day?" Mabel said cheerfully. Though he was being choked by his sisters surprisingly strong grip Dipper was grateful for the interruption. _Any more of that fake casual stuff and I might have made an ass of myself, _he thought to himself, _Screw this nervousness, it'll just be nice to go out and have fun like we used to again._

Feeling himself relax, Dipper followed the girls out Wendy's truck and the three headed out for an afternoon of fun in town.

–

By the time the trio had arrived back from the heart of town the party was in full swing at the shack, with music courtesy of DJ Soos shaking the old windows in their panes & the sound of the towns residents enjoying themselves from inside. To Dippers surprise there wasn't even a ticket booth, just a donation box at the door (though it did have picture of a glaring Stan pasted above it with the words "...Or else!" in red dripping letters written beneath the word "Donate").

As they made their way in past the crowd of dancing teenagers Mabel was practically flying tackled by Candy and Grenda, who dragged her off in a chattering and giggling huddle leaving Dipper alone with Wendy. _Well, if you can call being surrounded by a bunch of dancing people alone, _Dipper thought.

"We should go find Stan," Wendy said, "he'd set up this whole thing to surprise you guys so he'll probably want to see you tonight."

"Where is he anyway?" Dipper asked, scanning the crowd.

"Oh my god look!" Wendy said with a laugh as she pointed, and Dipper followed her gaze to the sight of his great-uncle cutting a rug with Lazy Susan. "That old man still has some moves... not good moves, but he has them at least."

"Heh, yeah... Well, no point in interrupting his fun." Dipper said, nodding his head along with the music. "I'm gonna go grab some punch. You want any?"

"Sure, sounds good," Wendy said, "but when you get back we're dancing, got that?"

"Um... sure, ok!" Dipper replied as he nervously laughed and made his way to the refreshments. _Ok, play it cool here. Why is she acting so into me? Am I reading too much into things? Maybe she just wants to dance. That's probably it. She did seem to really enjoy playing '_Dancy Pants Revolution III: The Bloodening_' at the arcade with Mabel. That was a weird game- who thought that killing zombies with dance moves was a good idea? _

While Dipper was distracted pondering the baffling decisions behind the games design Mabel was out on the dance floor with her friends, catching up with all the latest gossip.

"So, there's no chance that Pacifica is going to show up and ruin the party, right?" Mabel asked Candy as she took a breather from her enthusiastic dancing.

"No, she had to go stay with her aunt out of town for a while for medical reasons." Candy replied.

"Candy means that Pacifica got knocked up and her parents didn't want her to ruin their image." Grenda added with her usual discretion and volume.

"Yeesh... wouldn't want to be that kid." Mabel replied.

"Enough about that witch, how have you been?" Candy asked.

"I've been pretty great! Me and Dipper are going to be staying up here for the summer, so I'll get to spend some more time hanging out with my best friends after all!" Mabel said with a gleaming smile.

"Speaking of your brother when did he stop being such a dork?" Grenda asked.

"What do you mean? I don't think that's physically possible." Mabel joked.

"Well, he has gotten kind of... cute." Candy said shyly.

"Your bros hot." Grenda said bluntly.

"What? C'mon, girls – the guys in this town can't be so bad that you think my little brother is a catch?" Mabel replied with a laugh.

"You just can't see it cause he's family, but trust me – he looks good." Candy said somewhat defensively.

"If you say so..." Mabel said. "Say, where is he anyway?"

She scanned the room and found her brother dancing with Wendy, a carefree look on his face. His dance moves were pretty dorky, but looking at him under the crazy lighting of the party he seemed different somehow. Like an optical illusion becoming clear she noticed that he was actually a pretty handsome guy. _Well, it makes sense – we're twins and obviously I'm super cute. Still though, its strange that I hadn't noticed before. Or is it strange? Blegh, what am I even thinking here?_

"Enough talking about my brother – there's dancing to be done and plenty of cute guys here that I'm not related to that look like they could use some company!" Mabel exclaimed as she grabbed her friends by the hands and dragged them out onto the floor once again.

–

The night wore on and the parties energy started to wind down with it. Dipper had been having a pretty great time; he'd danced, he'd laughed & he'd had his fill of junk food to last a while – Stan had gone all out for this bash. _I think I can even recognize some name brand food here... no wait, false alarm._

He'd just finished talking with Stan to thank him for the celebration, and while his great-uncle had claimed that the party was mostly to drum up interest in the shack as a place to rent for events Dipper could see that he was glad that his niece and nephew had been having a good time.

"I saw you out on the dance floor earlier with Wendy," the old man had said, "good to see that you've gotten some guts since you've grown up. I remember back when you couldn't talk to her without your face turning into a sweaty tomato."

"Heh, thanks. I don't know why, but things seem to be going my way lately. This trip was a good idea."

"Actually there's something I'd wanted to talk to you about along those lines," Stan had said, "but we can discuss it tomorrow. I think I see a girl out there who still isn't totally danced out." he said as he slapped his nephew on the back and sent him on his way back to the party.

Now as Dipper walked out onto the dance floor he noticed the music had slowed down, and when he caught up with Wendy they were pulled close into a slow dance.

"I've had a pretty fun night Dip," Wendy said as she swayed along with the music, "how about you?"

"Its been good... gotta say that I've done more dancing now than I usually do." Dipper replied.

"It shows," Wendy teased, "but you got better. Would you want to step out for some air after this song?"

"Um... Sure." Dipper replied, now nervous once again. _I think she IS coming on to me. _

The song ended, as all songs eventually do, and the two went through the doors of the shack and out under the stars. Dipper found himself at a loss for words sitting there on the porch of the shack, all he could remember were facts from his astronomy class that he was sure would bore Wendy to tears. The silence dragged on for a few moments longer and just when Dipper had gotten desperate enough to try to recall the least boring of the astronomy facts he felt the older girl slide in closer to him and pull his face toward hers for a kiss. Dipper found himself frozen in shock for a moment before he felt himself relax and started to kiss back.

_My god this is actually happening! Wait... why is this happening? _He thought to himself. _Dang it Dipper, don't over think this – just go with it! Oh man she kisses hard._

He felt himself pull back from the kiss to get some air and looked into Wendy's face. "Um, not that this isn't great.." _Damn it Dipper, do not ruin this for us! _"but, why the kiss all of a sudden?"

Wendy looked at him quizzically, "Does it matter?" she asked as she leaned in for another kiss, this one even longer than the last.

_Of course it doesn't matter, this is awesome! _Dipper thought, but when their lips separated again he found himself asking "Well... I guess it doesn't matter per se... but you know me and mysteries. Heh... heh..." _What are you doing!?_

Wendy shook her head. "Dork. Ok, fine... I got dumped a week ago by my last boyfriend, I knew you always had a little crush on me and you looked pretty good tonight, so I thought... why not?"

"So, I'm a rebound sort of thing?" Dipper asked, his heart sinking in his chest.

"Maybe, I don't know... I just thought we'd been having a good time, so why not have some fun?"

"Uh... I don't know... but.." _No, no buts, what are you doing? "_I'm just not too comfortable with it. I mean, we've been good friends without any of this stuff complicating things and I kind of like it that way." _Welp, there goes that._

Wendy shrugged, "Fine by me. We still cool?"

"Yeah. We're good." Dipper said with a smile.

"'Kay, then I'm going to take off for the night. We'll hang out later then."

"Sure, see you around." Dipper replied, somewhat quietly. As he watched her get into her car and drive off he felt a small hollow inside. _Well... that could have gone better. Still, if we'd ended up making out with Wendy we might have started getting attached again and she's not looking for a boyfriend. Would have just lead to more heartbreak in the future._

_Doesn't make it feel any easier though._

His party mood gone Dipper went in through the back door of the shack and up to the attic. He lay back on his bed and reflected on the day. _Honestly the whole Wendy thing was just kind of immature of me... personality-wise we don't really click too well, she's older than me by a few years and would be out of college while I'm still in it and we don't live anywhere near each other. _He thought back on his various relationships in highschool and how they'd gone. Though he hadn't had as many girlfriends as Mabel had boyfriends neither of them had ever gotten into a really serious relationship. He'd just never felt that strong of a spark with them and had found that the same spark was lacking when he'd kissed Wendy earlier.

As he sat lost in thought he was startled by Mabel suddenly leaning over him and saying "Hey, what are you doing up here? The parties still going!"

"Gah! When did you even get here Mabel?" said Dipper, confused by her sudden appearance.

"I saw you sneak up here like 20 minutes ago. Whats up? Where's Wendy? I thought you two were having a good time?" she said, the last part said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

"Well I kind of burned that bridge... but I don't really mind I guess." Dipper said, and told her about their conversation outside.

"The nerve!" Mabel said indignantly, "No one uses my little brother for rebound make-outs and gets away with it!"

"Mabel, you're only 5 minutes older than me and I'm bigger than you – I think we can stop with the 'little brother'," Dipper replied jokingly, "and anyway its fine. She didn't do anything wrong, she just sees these sorts of things differently."

"If you say so..." Mabel replied, "but what would you do if a guy I liked made out with me because he'd been dumped, but he wasn't really into me?"

"I'd kill him." Dipper replied quickly.

"Heh, see? The protective streak can run both ways Dipping-sauce. Now c'mon, lets head back down – the parties almost done and we need to get our dance on before the night ends!" Mabel called to him as she ran skipping back down the stairs.

Dipper smiled after her and sat back up on his bed. _She always knows what to say to take me out of myself. I'm a lucky guy having a sister like that... funny, caring, and adventurous... she's just great to be around. That's the whole reason I'm here, _he thought, _to make sure that we can stick together._

He made his way back to the party room and saw his sister there in a group dance with Candy and Grenda, her hair flying behind her as she spun and moved to the beat, laughing and carefree. He smiled at the sight. _She looks beautiful when she dances. Wait, did I just think that? Well, its fine if I did... nothing wrong with noticing that. Its like noticing a sunset or a rainbow... just perfectly innocent aesthetics. _

Mabel turned and flashed a smile at him when she saw him at the doorway and waved him over, "Hey, come get in on this Dr. Funtimes! Last song of the night!" she called. He noticed, for the first time, the way her cheeks dimpled when she smiled genuinely. _Or noticing the ocean, or the way that stars reflect on water... Uh... I'm getting kind of poetic here... Its not like I think shes... _He stopped.

_Oh no. I think I do think that. _

_This... This might complicate things._


	7. Chapter 7

_June 12__th_

"C'mon Dipper! We're almost at the top here – no time to slow down!" Mabel called to her brother further back on the hiking trail.

Dipper had been acting strange ever since the night of the party... just kind of quiet and sort of nervous seeming. Just this morning when she'd woken up she'd found his bed empty and her brother asleep on the armchair in the living room with the television on as if he'd snuck down in the middle of the night and just ended up watching TV all night. Mabel had taken it upon herself to cheer her brother up but so far nothing she'd tried had seemed to work out like she'd planned... random hugs, surprise pokes & sneaking up behind him and making annoying noises just seemed to be upsetting him even more. _Well, ok – I can see how the annoying noises part might not have been the best plan, _she thought to herself as she hefted the weight of her small backpack, _but the other stuff usually always worked in the past. That whole deal with Wendy must have messed with him way more than I thought... Still, nothing like a good workout to help drive out heartbreak!_

Dipper had resisted her prodding and cajoling him into taking a nature hike with her near the lake at first but she'd finally managed to convince him through a combination of puppy dog eyes and mentions of a strange apelike creature spotted in the woods by some locals.

"C'mon Dipper, it'll be fun!" she'd pleaded as they had sat eating their breakfast that morning, "Plus how many chances are you going to get to go sasquatch hunting while you're off studying rocket-calculus or whatever that math class you signed up for is called?"

"I'm pretty sure that's not a real class." he'd said, a smile creeping unbidden onto his face. "I'm not sure I'm up for a hike though Mabel.."

"Dipper, you've been moping around the shack for like, 2 days... our summer isn't going to last forever. Go with me, I could use some company from my favorite brother." Mabel said, turning the charm up to 11 with one of her wide smiles.

Dipper looked into her face and she could see the 'no' forming on his lips before she saw a beat of hesitation. "You're right. Sorry I've been so weird lately, I've just got a lot of... stuff... going on in my head right now that I'm working through. Where was it we were going again?"

It had now been hours since that conversation and Dipper found himself panting and sweating up the trail under a massive pack, trudging after his sister. _If Mabel doesn't want to do art at least she'll always have a promising future as a drill sergeant to look forward to – this hike is brutal. _

Mabel appeared from behind a stand of tree's and waved him toward her, "You're almost there bro! Just a mile more!" she called cheerfully before skipping off ahead. She'd traded her usual sweater for the more practical combination of shorts and a brightly colored athletic shirt that looked like it had been mugged by a rainbow. Dipper couldn't help but notice how gracefully she moved, her long creamy legs and arms swinging in easy rhythm as she jogged ahead... _A very cute cute drill sergeant. Augh! No... c'mon man, pull yourself together here. You DO NOT have a thing for Mabel... she's... she's MABEL for gods sake!_

Setting his pack more firmly on his shoulders so that the left strap stopped digging into his neck, Dipper marched on, casting his eyes around for pretty much anything to take his mind off of this new and very distressing train of thought that had started to worm its way through his mind since the night of the party. Between this and his talk with Stan the other night he'd had a lot on his mind...

–

It had happened in the late evening the day after the party, once the last of the tour groups was gone for the day. Soos had already packed up his tools and headed off to his grandmother's for the night, and Mabel was having a girls night out with Candy and Grenda. Though Dipper was glad that he might be able to pass the evening without worrying if he was looking at her too much or avoiding her too much or just generally acting weird he was still feeling sort of lonely without having Mabel around. He'd come down from the attic and sat with Stan who was watching a boxing match in the living room. Dipper wasn't really a good judge for this sort of thing, but the old man was harshly critical about the fighters abilities.

"Look at these clowns dancing around in there... if I was ten years younger... well, maybe 30 or 40 years younger anyway, I could show them a thing or two." Stan griped.

"Sure thing," Dipper said distractedly as he tried to lose himself in his novel amid the noise of the crowd coming in from the television.

The fight ended on points instead of a knockout and Stan shut off the television with a disgusted "Bah!"

Thinking that his uncle was going to be heading off to bed already, Dipper started to get up to head for the attic once more, but Stan stopped him with a wave of his hand.

"Hold up a minute kid, meet me over in my den – I got something I need to show you." Stan had said as he sat up from his creaking armchair and cracked his back with a groan.

Dipper shrugged and followed his great-uncle over to the quiet room that Stan kept tucked away in the shack that he went to when he felt like being alone and found him seated at his desk there with a thick yellowed document in his gnarled hands.

"So.. uh, take a seat Dipper." Stan said, motioning to one of the chairs in the room. Dipper sat across from his uncle, confused and feeling like he was in some sort of bizarre job interview.

"Whats up Grunkle Stan?" Dipper asked as the old man adjusted some papers and coughed a little.

"Well, the thing is kid... Man, how long have you been coming up here? It seems like only yesterday when you were just a boy and I sat you down in this room and explained to you the facts of life." Stan said.

"I... I don't actually remember that happening." Dipper said, confused. _Maybe I blocked it out?_

"Really? I could have sworn... maybe I'm thinking of the time that I sat Soos down here and explained to him the facts of life. Sheesh, can that guy cry or what? Anyway, I'm getting off topic here. The thing is that I've seen you grow up a lot around here. You came here a sniveling little wimp and you've turned into a real man over the years." Stan continued, his voice tinged with pride.

"Thanks... I think." Dipper said, somewhat annoyed at Stans choice of words.

"The point is that I'm proud of you. I never had any kids of my own... you know, that I know of anyway.. so I was going to let you know this now – I'm going to be leaving the Shack to you in my will." Stan said.

"What?" Dipper said, stunned. "Are you ok? Are you sick?"

"Jeez, no I'm doing fine! At the rate I'm going now I'll probably outlive you," Stan said, flexing a wrinkled bicep, "but in case you do manage to survive me I was thinking that it would be good for this place to go to someone who would take good care of it. Make it a family business kind of thing. I wanted to get your opinion on this before I finalized any of the paperwork."

Dipper sat back in the chair. _Ownership of the Mystery Shack? Thats... thats huge. What do I do? Could I really run this place? Do I want to run this place? _He saw Stan looking at him expectantly, an inscrutable expression on his face. _Stans giving it to me because he thinks I can handle it... and maybe I can. _

Dipper nodded at his uncle, "I'm in."

Stan sat back with a smile. "Glad to hear it kid. Now don't go thinking you're just going to jump into this right away... I've still got plenty of years of scamming rubes left in me before you get this place. Who knows though? Heck, maybe one day I'll just leave it to you and retire to go out on the road again."

Dipper chuckled, "Well, you did always says its harder for them to catch you when you're traveling."

"Darn straight!" Stan said with a laugh of his own. "Anyway, when that ends up happening I've got some papers that I'll need you to read in my safe. You seem like you've got a good head for secrets and there's a few that I think you'll be ready for in a few years."

"What kind of papers?" Dipper asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Never you mind for now! Forget I said that last part. Anyway, I'm gonna head off to bed now. All this emotional junk has gotten me drained out." Stan said, standing up quickly to leave the room.

"You really think I'll be able to handle it?" Dipper asked before Stan had opened the door.

"If anyone can take care of this place the way it deserves to be, its you kid. Your sister didn't seem to enjoy it when she'd been in charge of the place, but I've seen you give the tours and you've got a flair for it. Plus my only other option was leaving it to Soos, which I think we can both agree is a disaster waiting to happen." Stan said.

"I wouldn't put it that way... but I wouldn't _not _put it that way either." Dipper said regretfully.

The two had parted ways for the night and Dipper had taken a slow walk around the shack, taking in every corner and beam of the place with new eyes. _Me, the owner of the Mystery Shack? I've got to tell Mabel! _

His thoughts returned once again to his sister and he felt his ears redden with shame. _If I can ever manage to talk to her again without cringing that is._

–

The 'last mile' that Mabel had promised did indeed lead to the end of the trail, but came to a steep hill that she insisted that they definitely had to climb. Dipper had groaned under the weight of his pack and demanded a short rest first and Mabel had agreed, stretching and taking a seat beneath the shade of a tall old oak tree.

Mabel glanced over at her brother as he fussed with his pack, looking for his water bottle. _Well, he looks tired and tired is better than depressed any day of the week, _Mabel thought to herself. She was a firm believer in post-breakup workouts rather than post-breakup ice-cream binges, and considering the number of boyfriends she'd had throughout her high school years it had probably been the much healthier option for her. _Dipper on the other hand, _she thought, _just sinks deeper into himself. He broods too much... heck, after that last girl dumped him back in junior year I almost went crazy hearing him listen to that one mopey album over and over again. _She thought back on the day when she'd finally had enough of seeing her brother miserable and had dragged him, physically, out of his room and along with her out on the town. He'd been surly at first, but after a day of hitting up video game stores, the comic shop & the new monster movie exhibit at the local museum he'd been laughing and joking with her again like it was just any other day. When they had arrived back home that night he'd smiled at her and thanked her for taking him out and she'd felt a familiar warmth in her chest seeing just how much she'd been able to do for him. He'd also handed her the CD that had been on loop throughout the week and she'd ceremonially snapped it over her knee and tossed the pieces into the garbage as they both had a laugh. _I've done it before and I'll do it again!, _Mabel thought with new resolve, _He's always been there for me when I'm down and I'm not going to let him waste our summer brooding about some crush from when he was twelve._

"Alright Sir Dipstick, breaktime's over – we're going to take that hill! Are you ready?" She called out enthusiastically as she walked up to him and held out her hand to help him to his feet. Wearily, he took it and followed her to the base of the steep hill where she began to do a few warm up stretches to prepare for the climb.

Dipper tried, very hard, not to stare at Mabel as she'd stretched out and particularly tried not to notice that her shorts were showing much more of her legs than he was accustomed to seeing. _C'mon man, don't be weird. Its just shorts. She's your twin... its not like you haven't seen her at the pool in her bathing suit before. Crap. Why did I just think of that? Gah! How many times are you going to touch your toes Mabel? They've been touched already!_

Dipper coughed, glad that at least the long hike gave him a plausible excuse for being red in the face and somewhat sweaty. "Say sis, why not let me lead the way up the hill... I think I've got my second wind!" he said with fake enthusiasm. _Also, I won't have to walk behind you in those shorts. Ugh... what is wrong with me? Happy thoughts Dipper. Pure clean happy thoughts. Like bigfoot. What if we see Bigfoot today? That would be great. Just breathe and think of bigfoot._

"That's the spirit!" Mabel chimed out, slapping her brother in the back. "Lead the way Dipper!"

The climb was tough – the hill wasn't as steep as a cliff, but the footholds and convenient branches to grab onto for stability were few and far between and soon Dipper found himself lost in the pure physicality of the moment. _This is more like it, _he thought, _just me and this hill. A clear goal ahead. _They were drawing closer to the top now and he felt at peace for the first time in days as he saw how close they were. As he started to reach out for a sapling to help stabilize his footing he heard a sudden yelp behind him and turned to see Mabel scrabbling as her foothold crumbled beneath her. Acting without thinking Dipper threw off his backpack and scuttled down the hillside after her as she was grasping a protruding root in a white knuckle grip, a look of sudden panic frozen on her face.

"Hang on Mabel!" he called as he finally reached her, and he quickly stripped off his belt and wrapped the loop around the tree and held the other end firmly wrapped in his fist. Satisfied at the strength of the hold he knelt down and grasped her forearm with his other hand. "Ok, when I say 'Go' you grab tight to my arm and I'll pull us up, ready?"

"Yes! Good! Whatever! Just pull already!" she screamed in panic as she dug her nails into his arm and kicked at the hill to haul herself up.

Wincing at the pain of her hands digging into his skin, Dipper hauled steadily and carefully brought Mabel up over the patch of loose dirt that had caused her to stumble and deposited her beside him onto stable ground. Panting, she crushed him to her in a tight embrace.

"God that was scary... thanks Dipper." she panted. Mabel felt her brothers arms encircle her tightly in return and she was surprised at the strength there. _Definitely not the noodly arms he used to have, _she thought to herself, lightheaded.

"Hey, you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you." Dipper replied. _I wouldn't & I won't_, Dipper thought, _not ever. _

Mabel looked up into his face and for once she couldn't read the emotions there. There was relief... and that stern look he got when he was feeling especially overprotective... and something else that she couldn't place. Something that made his face seem... different than it had ever looked to her before.

"Promise?" she said, her heart thumping in her chest. _Is this the fear? Why do I feel like this? _Mabel could feel the beat of Dippers heart against her chest and she felt her own thrumming pulse matching his.

"I promise." he said, his voice solemn but almost tender, "Always." _Now would be a good time to pull back Dipper, _he thought to himself, _before this becomes a much more awkward sibling hug than the usual. Any second now. _He didn't move though. His muscles felt a million miles from his mind, but he could feel her warm in his arms and didn't want to let it end.

_He really is handsome, _Mabel thought, _something about that look just brings it out. Gah... why am I still holding onto him? He's probably getting freaked out... pull yourself together Mabel! _Reluctantly she began to release her hold, and though she felt a pulse of hesitation she felt her brothers grip slacken as well. They stepped apart in silence, neither looking the other directly in the face. _What am I thinking? C'mon Mabel... you aren't really feeling... are you?_

"Well!" Dipper exclaimed suddenly, his hands clapping together with a sound like thunder in the silence, "That's one way to liven up a hike, right?" _Smooth one Pines, _he thought to himself.

"Heh... yeah. Nothing like a near death experience to make you appreciate all this nature." Mabel joked back. _Oh no, please don't be weird here Mabel, _she thought.

"Well, how about we make it up to the top of this hill then?" Dipper said, brightly.

"Sounds good! I bet the view up there is fantastic – I brought the camera!" Mabel replied. _'I brought the camera?' What kind of awkward mess is that?_

As Dipper turned to retrieve his fallen backpack which had rolled down the hill nearby he felt a tugging at his wrist and saw Mabels hand grasping it, her eyes looking up to meet his for the first time since their hug. Without thinking his hand slid up to meet hers and their fingers twined together. _C'mon man... what about bigfoot? Remember all those nice non-weird bigfoot thoughts we were going to have?_

"Lets... lets go up together. In case either of us trip again." Mabel said quietly. _Mabel, what are you doing? What's he going to think?  
_

Dipper hesitated for a second, sure that this was a bad idea but he quashed all the doubts in his mind and said, "Sure. Sounds like a good idea. You can catch me next time."

Hand in hand the twins slowly ascended up the hill.

–

Dipper sat now on the edge of the hill, looking out at the sun gleaming off the ripples of the lake below and took a deep breath of the cool forest air, heavy with the scent of pine and that warm-dusty-earth smell that he always thought of as 'sunshine'. The rest of the climb hadn't taken them terribly long and when they reached the top the strange spell that seemed to have fallen over the twins following Mabel's fall was broken by the growls of their stomachs. Dipper had broken out the lunches that they had stowed in his pack and they sat eating their sandwiches and sodas (over-carbonated from the backpack being thrown around) with the birdsong whistling around them. Conversation had been slow to start at first, but like always they found their familiar rhythm and Dipper felt a sense of normalcy returning. He'd told Mabel of his conversation with Stan and she had a secret laugh about the 'facts of life' bit which just left him more confused now than it had before (especially when she quietly shuddered "The hand gestures were the worst part"). Dipper felt at peace now that things seemed to have gotten back to the way they should. _Back there though... I could almost swear when she grabbed my hand that... no... she was just shaken up after her fall. She wasn't thinking anything like that. You're the weird one this time Dipper, not Mabel, _he thought to himself reproachfully.

Their lunches were long gone now and Mabel had walked along the hilltop snapping pictures from every angle of the valley laid out below, the lake, the trees & even a few of particular trees that she thought looked interesting. She'd even had Dipper pose over-dramatically on the hilltop to commemorate his "daring rescue". The last one he'd gone along with semi-reluctantly, and he'd vetoed her suggestion that he be flexing heroically for the shot.

Dipper reflected on the afternoon as he watched the waves of the lake below gently slosh against the gravel beach. It HAD been good to get out of the house, and it had also been good to spend time with Mabel again. Avoiding her wasn't a solution to his problem and it had just seemed to make her unhappy too. _She'd said she wanted us to stick together. That she didn't want to lose us. Pulling away from her now wouldn't be being a good brother, it would mean being a coward. I should just face up to this and get over it. For her sake._

"Why the long face bro?" Mabel asked as she appeared from behind before settling down beside him. "You still thinking about the Wendy thing?"

"Sort of." Dipper replied. _It's similar at least. _

"Well whats been eating you lately? We'd been doing great when we arrived, but ever since the party you've been just kind of... blargh." Mabel asked, concern in her voice.

"Just... things." Dipper said, trying to dodge the topic, and Mabel relented after seeing the look on his face.

"I've had things on my mind too." Mabel said. "Like what we we're going to do about that whole college situation. We've been here almost a week already, so if you've got a plan in mind I'd love to hear it."

"I've had a few thoughts on that." Dipper replied, _some of them very strange._

"Keep thinking then and I'll think too... I don't want to lose you in my life." she said quietly.

"Me neither." he replied softly. _More than anything I don't want that._

Mabel slid up closer and he found himself draping an arm across her shoulder instinctively. _Is this weird? Do I normally do this? I don't remember. Why am I over-thinking everything lately! _His thoughts were silenced when he felt her lean her head against his chest and her own arm circle around his waist.

They sat in silence watching the late afternoon sun sink slightly behind the hills and set the lake on fire with the colors of sunset.

_No, one way or another I'm not going to lose this, _each twin thought separately yet together, their identical thoughts unknown to the other as they sat in one another's arms in warm silence.

From the trees behind them a flat apelike face watched them silently for a few moments before it turned and moved ever so carefully back down the hill, its curiosity satisfied. Bigfoot recognized people who didn't want to be disturbed when it saw them. Besides, it was almost certain that the girls camera still had some film left.


	8. Chapter 8

_June 17__th_

The woods echoed with a bloodcurdling shriek unlike anything ever made in a human throat as the Pine twins found themselves crashing through the underbrush, running hand in hand.

"Do you think its still following us?" Dipper panted to Mabel as they paused to catch their breath with their backs to the trunk of an enormous tree.

The shriek sounded again, louder and shriller and somehow even more terrifying than before.

"I'd say thats a yes!" Mabel replied as she pulled Dipper away from the tree and back into a run, their feet pounding through the debris of fallen leaves and hard packed earth in perfect synchronization.

_This has been one hell of a week, _Dipper thought as his eyes darted between the trees and up to the sky, seeking their tormentor and any place that might provide an opportunity to escape from it, _and this thing is definitely not helping any!_

"There!" Mabel hissed as she pointed at a hollow cut into the path by a dry creek bed, a thick fallen log across the space providing perfect concealment from above. Wordlessly the two made the jump and found themselves scrambling under the shadow of the log, each gripping the other in a tight embrace – their ears perked for the sound of their pursuer.

The shriek came again, closer than before and Dipper felt Mabel stiffen in his arms. Digging through his pockets he extracted an old antler-handled jackknife (a present from Soos a few birthdays ago) and slid the blade out – it was small, thin and almost certain to snap if he tried to do anything more violent than pry off a bottle-cap but he still felt better for having it. Less helpless. Mabel looked from the knife to her brothers face and he saw her jaw stop trembling. She nodded slightly and extracted her grappling hook from _somewhere_ on her person and held it in her now steady grip like she was posing for an action movie poster.

_Where does she find the space to hide that thing?_ Dipper wondered to himself, feeling somewhat lightheaded from the fear chemicals flooding his system. All thoughts were driven from his head when the shriek came again and he tightened his grip on the knife till his knuckles were white and he felt the screws on the handle digging into his palm.

_Ok Dipper... calm down now. Fear is the mind killer. Oh god, I'm going to die and my last thought is going to be a quote from a science fiction book? I AM a dork._

"Dipper!" Mabel hissed, causing him to jump slightly, but he fortunately managed to strangle the embarrassing gasp before it could leave his throat.

"What?" he hissed back.

"That last one didn't sound as close... I think it might have passed over us already." Mabel replied in a whisper.

They both sat expectantly listening for nearly a minute before the next shriek came, this time noticeably fainter than before. Dipper breathed out a deep sigh of relief and felt his grip on the knife slacken. The immediate danger was passed... but now what were they going to do?

"Leaving right now could be a bad idea... we don't know if it might come back this way yet. I'd rather not risk making too much noise or moving out in the open if I can help it." Dipper whispered to Mabel, and she nodded. He was suddenly aware that she was still pressed tight to his chest with his arm around her and he could smell the bubblegum she'd been chewing earlier on her breath (she'd accidentally swallowed it halfway through their heart-pounding chase through the forest). _Now of all times? Really Dipper? _he chided himself.

"Yeah... good idea." Mabel replied. "So, how long should we wait here?" She shifted slightly, getting more comfortable in the cramped space under the hollow.

"Uhmm... I'm not really sure." Dipper said. "I don't really know much about the hunting habits of giant vampire bats. Honestly until today I wasn't sure there _were_ giant vampire bats."

"We should have brought along the shrinky-crystal – that would have made short work of him."

Dipper groaned. "A pun. Now?"

"There's never a bad time for a good joke." Mabel replied primly. "Anyway why didn't we bring along any of that weird magic stuff that we packed? It took up a lot of valuable sweater-space in my suitcase and now its just sitting up in our room at the shack."

"I don't know... I can never figure out what to take and we don't have enough space to carry all of it." Dipper replied with a shrug. A distant shriek caused him to tense up briefly but he quelled the fear.

"We should get utility belts!" Mabel hissed excitedly. "I can knit us some when we get back home."

"Mabel, I'm not wearing a utility belt – thats just an even dorkier fanny pack." Dipper replied.

"C'mon, you could be like Batman. You love Batman!" she said, nudging him with her routine set of jabs and pokes.

"Batman isn't real!" Dipper hissed.

"Oh sure, a man dressed as a bat fighting crime is so implausible but whatever the hell that thing chasing is us makes perfect sense?" Mabel replied, her voice tense.

"How can you joke around at a time like this?" he said indignantly.

"Its the only thing keeping me from screaming!" she hissed back at him her eyes flashing.

They both sat in silence for a few moments, their breaths short and harsh from their argument.

"I'm sorry for dragging you along with me," Dipper said quietly as his anger drained away, "I'm not doing so hot on the whole 'not letting anything happen to you' front right now, am I?"

The sound of regret in Dippers voice cut through Mabel's own anger like a knife, and she felt the tension in her muscles suddenly relax. Now keenly aware of how close they were pressed together she started to pull back from him but stopped herself. _I don't really want to pull back, _she thought, _even if it is weird. _

"You didn't twist my arm or anything," Mabel replied as she found herself snuggling in closer to Dipper, "I'm a big girl and came on my own. Someone needs to try and keep you out of trouble."

"Good job there sis." Dipper replied jokingly as he ran his hand absentmindedly up and down her back and she stuck her tongue out at him playfully in response. _She's... um... really close in now. Should I move or... no, she just got in closer... What's she doing? Calm down, she probably just doesn't want to be stuck lying in rocks and dirt like I am. Ugh, that root there is just hitting all the worst spots. _He shifted uncomfortably against the ground, trying to find a position that wasn't such a pain in the back.

"Dipper, you're not being a very good pillow when you're wiggling around like that." Mabel said, "When a lady rests on you a gentlemen should try and stay still. Thats like, cuddling 101."

"I uh... don't think I took that course." Dipper replied. _Oh come on what was that? Was that a flirt? Are we flirting? Am I really that BAD at flirting? Shut up subconscious!_

"Well, we may be stuck here a while. Maybe its time we catch up?" Mabel said.

"Catch up how?" Dipper replied warily. _On cuddling?_

"Well you've said it yourself... we haven't really hung out too much over the last year, so maybe this is just the chance we need to catch up on things with each other?" Mabel said.

"I thought we did that in the car on the way to town?" Dipper said. _Ah, so NOT on cuddling then. Good. I guess._

"Oh c'mon, that was kids stuff. I'm talking the big deep down personal stuff! Hopes! Dreams! Secrets! Romance!" Mabel said, her voice growing more dramatic yet still cautiously hushed.

_Secrets? Romance? Definitely not safe topics right now, _Dipper thought. _Still, it would be nice to just talk for a while without any distractions. Aside from the mortal peril that is._

"Well, I don't have any better ideas," Dipper said, "what do you want to know?"

"Ok, umm... why did you pick the college you signed up for?" Mabel asked.

"Not sure that counts as deep down personal stuff Mabel. As for the answer... I don't know, it was a good school and Mom and Dad looked really proud that I got accepted into it, so I just went for it." Dipper said.

"Thats it?" Mabel replied.

"Yeah... I don't actually care one way or another to be honest. I get that college is supposed to be this big adventure – but when you've been on actual adventures-" the sound of another distant shriek tore through the air causing them to both freeze for a few beats before Dipper continued in the same casual tone, "-with things like THAT chasing you, moving into a new dorm doesn't seem like such a big deal."

"Well why go then if you don't care?" Mabel said. "Its gonna cost our folks a ton of cash for you to do something you give less than a rats butt about."

"Well I could say the same for you and art school..." Dipper said before stopping in the face of Mabels glare, "...but that would be pretty hypocritical of me. I don't know, I guess I had just figured its the next step. Move out, get a degree, find a job and then just... grind on."

"You make it sound so depressing. Life can be an adventure anywhere Dip!" Mabel said cheerfully.

"I guess... but after dealing with all _this_ stuff since I was 12 I don't think that the 'adventure' of filing papers at a desk for the next 40 years is going to be that mindblowing." Dipper said glumly.

"That got a lot darker than I was hoping for." Mabel said quietly.

"I know... its probably just the 'being stuck under a log hoping not to die' thats doing it. Ok, give me another one – this time I swear I won't be such a downer." Dipper replied quickly after he saw the small frown that came to Mabel's face after his gloomy confession.

"I'm holding you to that Captain Sourpuss." Mabel said. She screwed up her face in concentration for a second before a glint came in her eye and she asked with a grin, "Alright, next question- whats the farthest you ever got with a girl?"

"What? Oh come on!" Dipper replied indignantly.

"Dipper, we are in the sacred shadow of the Honesty Log here – you are honor bound to tell the truth."

"This isn't something you talk about with your sister." Dipper said. _Even, or maybe especially, if you have been having un-brotherly feelings about her._

"Maybe not, but you also said I'm your best friend – and best friends talk about this junk all the time! Hows that for logic?" Mabel said triumphantly.

"Iron clad." Dipper said through gritted teeth. "Ok... to answer your totally inappropriate question... not too far... like 2nd base, maybe 2nd and a half."

"How do you even get to 2nd and a half?" Mabel asked.

"You get tagged out before you reach third." Dipper replied.

"Hah... sports metaphors." Mabel chuckled.

"Well how about you? How far along the bases have you gone?" Dipper asked. _Do I really want to know that?_

"Uh.." Mabel hesitated. _I didn't think this through, _she thought cursing herself.

"C'mon _best friend_ – the Honesty Log and I are waiting." Dipper replied teasingly.

"Well... I uh... I never _quite _reached home." Mabel said, suddenly feeling very shy.

"Oh... so you never..?" Dipper asked slowly. _I was almost sure that she had. _

"No! I mean... no. Didn't even do much on third to be _totally _honest." she said quietly.

"Why so?" Dipper asked.

"I don't know... I dated a couple of guys-" Mabel began.

"You dated a dozen guys." Dipper said, cutting her off.

"It wasn't a dozen!" Mabel said shortly, giving him a small yet painful punch in the arm. "Anyway, none of them were really the _One_, you know? I mean, most of them were pretty nice but I didn't really feel like I wanted to go _that _far with them... so things usually ended when they started wanting to get... you know, hot and heavy. I said 'no' and then they'd go." she said the last part in a quiet sing-song voice, sadness evident in her tone.

"They broke up when you didn't want to get physical? No offense Mabel but you've got a horrible taste in guys." Dipper said indignantly. _When we get back home I'm looking some of those jerks up... well, maybe not that big guy from the football team but DEFINITELY some of them._

_You have no idea, _Mabel thought as she found herself feeling what she was sure was _too _comfortable lying here in her brothers arms. Ever since the afternoon of the 'cheer-up' hike Dipper had gotten out of his funk, but Mabel had found things had seemed to be changing between them. Her jokes and teasing with Dipper had become more frequent... but also different from normal sisterly teasing. She found herself hugging him more, and poking him and just generally finding excuses to touch him. He hadn't objected to it either and had even wrestled around a bit with her like they hadn't done in years. Just last night she'd given him a kiss on the cheek before bed, something she hadn't really done since they were children sharing a room, and she'd lain under the covers with her heart beating hard in her chest and her mind racing as she came to the realization that she'd been treating Dipper the way she normally treated guys she liked. She found herself looking at him more and sometimes she'd catch his eyes and knew that _he _was looking at her too, and not the same way he used to. _What's happening here? Am I really feeling this way about Dipper? Does he know? Its not just me... he's acting different too... but is he just reacting to me or does he feel it too? _

Things were quiet now in the hollow under the log and Mabel glanced up to see her brother looking down at her and this time when her eyes met his he didn't look away. _Maybe I am feeling this... s_he felt her lips part and felt his muscles tense up around her as she started to lean in closer to him, their faces drawn toward one another. _So what if I am? _She thought. _Its not anyone's business who I like... _

The thought was driven from her head by another screech which seemed to fill the whole world and the rustling of branches and leaves around them. The twins sat frozen, their muscles cramping from tension before they were finally able to relax again after nearly five minutes of silence had passed. _Well that killed the mood, _Mabel thought both relieved and regretful. _I almost kissed him right now... God, what would he even think? This is NOT being a good sister Mabel._

"So... um... to continue on the catching up; what have you always wanted to do?" Dipper asked, to break the silence.

"What like a job?" Mabel replied shakily.

"No... I mean more like – like what is something that you've always wanted to do, something that you would want to do at least once in your life." Dipper asked.

"What, like before I die?" Mabel asked.

"Sure, if you want to put it that way." Dipper replied.

Mabel thought carefully before responding, "Travel. I'd love to go see the world... all those big crazy places that you always see in the news or magazines or whatever. I would love to go out and check that stuff out."

Dipper smiled, "Thats a pretty good dream."

"Yeah, but it ain't gonna happen if we become bat-food." Mabel said quietly.

"Well thats not going to happen! I'm not letting any bat hurt you, no matter how giant. We're getting out of here right now... no more hiding." Dipper said fiercely. The old knife looked small in his fist, but his grip on it was firm and there was no shaking in his voice now.

_Still the bravest guy I know, _Mabel thought, _even if he is kind of dorky. _

"I'm going to go out first," Dipper said, "and if the coast looks clear you follow after me, ok?"

"What? Do you think I'm going to let you use yourself as bait!" Mabel said indignantly, "What kind of wuss do you take me for? We go out together or we don't go out at all."

"It's too risky- I don't want you to get hurt!" he hissed back at her.

"I don't want you getting hurt either you idiot! That's why we're going out together – we can watch each others backs that way. We're partners here, I'm not your sidekick." she responded, her voice firm.

Dipper felt a sharp response rise in his throat but he silenced it. _She's right... we'll have a better chance if there's two sets of eyes watching out. _He saw the determined set of Mabels jaw and the way she held her grappling hook in a practiced grip (she'd gotten a lot better with it and hardly ever accidentally broke things now) and felt something stir inside himself. _She's brave and she's beautiful and I'm crazy about her and I don't care if that isn't a normal thought to have. Might as well be honest with myself now since I might not be around for much longer... though who knows since ghosts apparently exist? _

Wordlessly the twins slid off one another and positioned themselves under the hollow, like sprinters taking their starting positions. They glanced briefly at one another before digging in to take off.

"I love you Mabel." Dipper said quietly. _There... I said it. Maybe she doesn't know exactly what I meant but it still feels good to say it anyway._

Mabel felt a strange lightness when she recognized the tone of his voice. _Thats not his normal 'I love you'... _"I love you too Dipper." she said with feeling. _I think I really do too. _

With a grin on his face Dipper burst out from under the hollow and scrambled up the creek bed, his eyes darting around behind him. No bat in sight! With a grunt of effort he pulled Mabel up the embankment when she began her climb and the two of them started to run again before Mabels grip suddenly tightened like a vise on his hand and she pointed forward wordlessly. He followed her finger and saw a huge black form like a human-sized cocoon hanging from a thick branch in their path. Leathery wings began to open wider than he could have imagined possible and he found himself staring into flat yellow eyes the size of golf balls as the creature cocked its head toward them, a blood red tongue darting out to run over fangs that were each larger than the knife in his hand.

_It had been waiting here for us the whole time, _Dipper realized with his heart sinking in his chest.

"Clever girl..." whispered Mabel in a terrible fake Australian accent and Dipper couldn't suppress the snort of nervous laughter that burst out. All panic had left him now and he felt strangely revitalized by his sisters joke.

The creature opened its mouth wide and let out an earsplitting shriek that seemed to rattle Dippers brain in his skull but he was now long past the point of fear and had come all the way around again toward near-suicidal bravado. Kneeling in the leaves of the forest floor Dipper pulled out a fist sized stone and hefted it carefully in his hand before drawing his arm back and letting it fly with all his strength at the bats head. To his surprise the rock connected with a hideous _CRACK _sound that echoed through the trees and the beasts wings beat frantically as its grip on the branch slackened, sending it crashing to the forest floor. Acting on pure instinct Dipper grabbed a wrist-thick branch up from the nearby debris pile and charged while the creature was still stunned, gripping the length of termite gnawed wood like a baseball bat. _If I can finish it off now we're saved! _Before he could reach it though it had already scrabbled up, using its wings like a pair of long forelegs and it hissed at him with a mouth full of jagged yellow fangs. He could see the muscles bunching in its freakish limbs as it tensed to spring at him.

_This isn't going to end well, _Dipper thought in the back of his mind as he braced himself for the bats charge and held his crude club at the ready. However before the bat could act Dipper heard the familiar bursting sound of Mabels grappling hook firing and saw the thick metal barbs suddenly tear into the creatures left shoulder. He darted his eyes over toward his twin and saw that she'd taken position next to the trunk of a tree and had wrapped the other end of the chord around the trunk tightly.

"C'mon! I'm not sure if its strong enough to hold him!" Mabel called as she waved Dipper over frantically and he ran quickly toward her with the bat lumbering after him in enraged pursuit.

"We're going to find out if it can in a second!" Dipper called back to her when he reached her and she took his hand tightly once more as they pounded forward. Suddenly they heard a short pained shriek and a thump and turn to see the bat stumbling and brought short, the rope of the grappling hook stretched taught between the branches of various trees and leaving it unable to move forward. It stared and shrieked at them in rage and futility as they stood panting just beyond its reach.

"Hahaha! We're alive!" Mabel shouted triumphantly, throwing herself at Dipper and wrapping her arms around his neck. He lifted her up and spun her around laughing in exhilaration as well, all the fight-or-flight chemicals flooding his body making him feel more alive than ever. Everything felt better; the breeze in the trees, the leaves crunching underfoot... and Mabel in his arms. They stopped their "still alive" celebratory dance and stood panting and holding one another. Dipper looked down at her face and saw her eyes shining, her cheeks flushed and hair thrown out of place with a few leaves stuck here and there in its glorious chestnut brown length.

_To hell with it, _Dipper thought before he suddenly pulled Mabel close to him and brought his lips to hers. She stood frozen for a second before he felt her arms grip him even tighter and her own lips began to kiss him back fiercely. It was longer, more passionate and wetter than any kiss Dipper could recall from recent memory, and made his disastrous makeout with Wendy seem like getting a peck on his cheek from an elderly aunt. _This is happening, _he thought as he felt Mabels bubblegum flavored tongue running over his lips, _this is happening and she's kissing me back and I don't want it to stop. _He twined his fingers through Mabels silky hair and she moaned into his mouth in return and brushed her nails up his spine, which made him shudder even through the thick canvas fabric of his jacket. They broke their kiss, panting and stared deeply into one another's eyes.

"So..." Mabel said, "this is happening."

"Do you want it to stop?" Dipper asked, braced for any answer.

"No. Hell no." Mabel responded huskily before she pulled his face down to hers and kissed him so aggressively that it nearly sent Dipper stumbling back a step. The dam had burst and all the tension that had built up between them came flooding out, taking them both along with it.

A shriek broke them out of their sudden reverie and they both turned and saw the enormous bat foaming at the mouth and tugging hard at the length of the cord binding it to the trees with a look of pure animal madness in its eyes.

"We should go." Dipper panted, turning back to look into Mabels eyes.

"Yeah... good idea." She said. A sudden frown creased her brow, "What about my grappling hook though?"

The sound of branch snapping echoed like thunder as the giant vampire bat inched itself closer toward the siblings and they both took off in a dead run.

"I'll buy you a new one!" Dipper yelled back as they made their way clumsily through the thicket.

–

It was hours later now. The twins had returned to the shack, tired, covered in dirt, leaves, bruises and scratches and completely out of breath. Stan had grunted a greeting to them from his seat by the television and informed them that dinner was in the fridge and they had nodded gratefully before heading into the kitchen to eat, starving from their recent exertion. Neither had spoken of the kiss since it had occurred, or had even said much beyond hushed arguments about which direction the Mystery Shack lay as they wandered through the forest.

_She probably just wants to put it behind her, _Dipper thought_, it was a spur of the moment "I'm still alive!" thing, right? _

He looked up from his reheated stew and saw Mabel meet his eyes briefly before she dropped them back to her own bowl of food. _Why did I have to go and do it? It seemed like a great idea at the time since I'd just survived a monster attack... but now... what if I messed things up between us forever? She kissed me back though. She kissed back and we only stopped because we were worried about getting eaten. _Dipper wasn't sure which prospect scared him more; the idea that she didn't reciprocate his feelings, or the now very real possibility that she did. _Either way... things will be different._

Dipper excused himself from the table and took a long hot shower, reveling in the feel of the water running over his sore muscles and wincing at the touch of cheap soap on his various scrapes and cuts. _That was way too close. If Mabel hadn't been there with the grappling hook I'd be dead by now. We're always saving each other though... I owe her my life more times than I can count... and I've saved her a few times too. I hate seeing her risk herself, but she's right. We're partners here. _

He dried himself off and made his way to bed silently, lying back on the horrible old mattress and staring up at the familiar mold patches on the ceiling. He heard the rush of water through the pipes below as Mabel took her own shower and he tried, with difficulty, not to picture how she looked now with the soapy water running over her. _Curse my teenage hormones. _

It wasn't long before he heard the sound of her footsteps coming up the creaking stairs and he felt his throat go dry and his heart catch in his chest. _What if she hates me now? What if I really did mess everything up? What if she won't want to be there to be my partner on weird adventures, or joke around with me about dumb stuff or even want to hang out at all anymore? What if I really have lost her now..._

The door creaked open and he turned to see Mabel standing in the frame by the light of the old oil lantern, her hair in two damp braids and wearing her colorful pajamas covered in cartoon pigs. _I got those for her last Christmas, _Dipper thought to himself absentmindedly as she closed the door quietly and sat down on her own bed across from his, facing him. For a moment there was silence.

"You know, you're a pretty good kisser Dip." Mabel said.

"Um... thanks. You too." he said back. Silence ticked on for a few beats. _Say something you coward! _

"Heh... awkward." Mabel said with a short chuckle before she continued. "So.. how long have you... felt.. this?"

"A while now. Sorry." he said quietly.

"Sorry for what?" she asked.

"For feeling... un-brotherly things about you... I know its weird or wrong or whatever... Just.. sorry."

"Well in that case I guess I should be sorry too. For feeling un-sisterly things about you."

"You do? I mean... you are? Or you did?" Dipper asked, his heart suddenly racing in his chest.

"Yeah... except I'm not sorry. I don't think you should be either." Mabel said, boldness creeping into her voice.

"So... you don't think its... wrong?" Dipper asked slowly.

"Maybe it is. But it doesn't _feel _wrong to me. Not in any way that matters." Mabel said, and Dipper could see on her face just how much that admission had meant to her.

"I don't really think that it feels wrong either. Maybe I should, but I don't. I love you. I've always loved you, but I'm _in _love with you too now. I'm not sure when it started... but it feels strong and real and I don't want it to stop." Dipper said, his voice growing stronger as he felt the weight of his secret lifted away.

"What should we do about it?" Mabel asked. Her voice was casual, but he could see the way her hands were toying with her bedspread nervously.

_Now or never, _Dipper thought to himself. The rusted old bedsprings creaked as he sat up and got to his feet, coming toward her slowly. Mabel looked up at him, her eyes wide and Dipper felt his nerves jangling as he took in the sight of her. He'd faced monsters, demons, gnomes & the fearful spectacle of Grunkle Stan in his underclothes but nothing so far had filled him with as much panic as the sight of her face looking at him expectantly now. He reached out and cupped her chin in his hand before bending down to plant a kiss on her lips, slow and gentle with none of the adrenaline fueled ferocity of their earlier exploration and he felt her soft cool hands reach out to stroke his face as she responded with intensity. The kiss broke off slowly and he smiled down at her, a true happy smile like he hadn't been able to feel in days.

"Want to go out with me?" Dipper asked, playfulness in his tone but also an honesty there that made Mabel's own heart skip a beat.

"Yeah. I'd like that a lot." she replied with a big goofy grin of her own before she pulled him back to her for another, longer kiss.

The cursed wax head of Larry King looked on from the vents with confusion before rolling off back through the innards of the house. _Kids these days._


	9. Chapter 9

_June 28__th_

In some ways it was the things that _didn't _change that had surprised Dipper the most about this strange new territory that he and Mabel had found themselves in after they had opened themselves up to one another that night and entered this phase in their relationship. They still joked easily with one another, found themselves falling into ridiculous conversations, got into absentminded arguments about completely irrelevant things... their old sibling bond seemed just as strong as it ever was but that just made the new differences feel even more significant and, Dipper had to admit, all the sweeter to him. Those secret sidelong glances they shared, as if they were kids again in their first real relationships. Feeling her hand slide into his under the blankets as they watched a cheesy monster movie in the living room on a chilly night. The secret kisses stolen when they found themselves alone that always set his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest. Having her pressed up against him as they lay spooning in his bed in the quiet hours of the night when they were sure that they wouldn't be disturbed, with the scent of her hair seeming to fill his whole world. True, they hadn't really gone very far in the physical aspect of their relationship beyond some very intense making out... but neither of them had pressed the issue of going further yet, partly because of the newness of it all and partly because of the mutual unspoken fear of being discovered. _All good things in their own time... and its not like things haven't been fantastic as it is, _Dipper found himself thinking and felt his palms grow slightly sweaty with the memory of the night before, particularly the sight of Mabel's face with her eyelids fluttering and her bottom lip clenched in her teeth to muffle a slight moan as he'd run a trail of kisses along the sensitive skin of her neck. Nothing had compared with seeing that look coming into her face and knowing that _he _was able to give her that feeling. Suddenly conscious of himself Dipper shook the memory from his head and remembered that he was still supposed to be in the middle of the chore of hauling in more merchandise from the attic to re-stock the shelves of the gift shop.

_To think that I'd been fighting all this... that I'd been terrified of these feelings. I probably would never have told her if it hadn't been for that whole "almost being eaten alive by a monster" thing. Amazing how a little near-death experience can put everything into perspective, _Dipper thought to himself as he manhandled the heavy cardboard box through the doorway of the gift shop and set it down with a grunt before pausing to try and massage some life back into his arms. He looked up and caught the sight of Mabel joking around with an elderly customer from behind the counter of the gift shop and felt a small smile creep across his face hearing her distinct laugh. Objectively it wasn't an especially musical sound, but it had taken on a very special quality to him lately and he'd taken a new pleasure in coaxing it from her when they managed to find time to be alone with one another. He had to admit he didn't have too much practice acting "boyfriend-ish", but things had just been going so well that he still couldn't really believe that this was all happening to him. Mabel glanced up at Dipper over the tourists shoulder and gave him a quick look with a smile in her eyes that he knew was just for him. As the customer looked down to dig into his pockets for some change she threw all subtlety out the window and gave Dipper an exaggerated wink while blowing a quick kiss at him that caused his heart to skip a beat, despite the goofiness of it all. Dipper coughed and felt the tips of his ears start to burn slightly which just made Mabel's grin widen in response. _Curse my natural bashfulness! _

Dipper quickly turned away when the man had finally finished digging through their pockets for money to pay for his purchase and set to work unpacking the goods from the box and started setting them up on the shelves. _Focus here Dipper, _he thought, _gotta try and act MOSTLY normal around the Shack. At least during the daytime when other people are around. _He tried, unsuccessfully, to lose himself in the task at hand but couldn't keep his mind from drifting back to Mabel. Tonight was going to be something special after all, because they had decided that this was going to be the night of The Date (Dipper always inserted the mental capital letters whenever he'd found himself thinking of it). _Just a few more hours here and it'll be time. Here's hoping it all goes as planned._

–

The whole subject of The Date had come up a few nights ago as the twins had lain in Dippers bed, with Mabel resting her head on his bare chest and his arm wrapped loosely over her, idly running his hand over the smooth skin of her shoulder. It had been a busy day and they were enjoying the silence of the attic and one another's company after the rushing around of all the tours and chores necessary to keep the Mystery Shack running in semi-working order, and when the house had finally grown silent she'd slipped herself in under the covers beside him without a word. It hadn't taken long for the warmth of Mabel's breath on Dippers skin and the feel of her weight gently resting on him to set his blood pounding in his ears (among other places) and he'd felt bold enough to make the first move that night, shifting himself about to bring her face level to his and pressing his lips to hers. She had sighed softly and kissed back, but kept it light and teasing, nipping his lip between her teeth and running her fingers along his scalp which caused him to shudder. He had started to pull her in closer to himself, but he felt her small hand press on his chest to hold him back and he stopped, confused.

"Whats up Mabel?" he asked, concern in his voice.

"Well... I'd just been thinking... you're my boyfriend, right?" Mabel had asked slowly.

"Of course. I mean, I'm not really sure there's a term for... this, but I think boyfriend fits pretty well. I'd hope so anyway, after all the kissing and declarations of love and whatnot." Dipper had joked, but with an edge of nervousness in his voice. _I knew this was too good to be true... I hope this isn't anything serious...Gah, calm down you weirdo, pretty sure this isn't a breakup speech, you've heard enough of those to know the difference. _

"Well its just... it's not that Midnight Makeout times haven't been awesome- because trust me they very much have been... but I was thinking that we've been 'going out' for a while but haven't really been out-out. You know, like on a date." Mabel replied.

"Yeah. I mean, I guess that's true... would you want to?" Dipper asked slowly. _Oh thank god. See, I told me I had to stop worrying. I really need to stop talking to myself so much, its getting kind of creepy._

"Well yeah! I'm a classy lady Dipper, I need to be romanced occasionally." she said dramatically, rolling the 'r's in 'romanced' to a ridiculous degree, causing him to chuckle. "I mean the privacy of the attic is nice and all, but the spiders and moldy spots don't add much to the ambiance... unless you're totally into that kind of thing of course?" she said with a playful note of questioning accusation in her voice.

Dipper glanced around at the cobwebs festooning the ceiling and the drips of water pattering down from the rusty pipes running along the beams with a newly critical eye. "Fair enough, we have pretty much been making out in a low-rent haunted house for a while... well... what would you want to do?" he asked.

"Have a night out on the town – just you and me! I'll leave the details up to you though, I feel like being surprised."

"Heh, no problem! I'm sure I'll come up with something fun." _Crap... what do you do on a real date? Pretty much every girl I went out with in high school just wanted to hang out and watch TV and then maybe kiss a little. This will take some planning. Not to mention the whole 'We're siblings' thing, which the townsfolk might not be so keen on._

"Nothing supernatural though," she warned him jokingly, digging a finger into his ribs, "just a nice normal date. No 'Para-' involved."

"That might be hard to pull off in this town," Dipper joked back, "but I think I can manage. I'll let you know when I've got it all set up."

"Great! Can't wait to see your boyfriend skills in action." Mabel said playfully. "Speaking of which," she continued with a warm note coming into her voice, "where were we before I interrupted?" Before Dipper could answer Mabel pulled her lips to his again suddenly, kissing him with a heat that surprised him and he felt himself getting lost in the moment, all worries about date planning blasted out of his mind for the time.

–

Evening had fallen now over the Mystery Shack and the museum section of the old building had already been closed to business for the day. Stan had gone out for the night to a meeting of the mysterious Lodge that he mentioned every now and then and Mabel was currently examining herself critically in the mirror. She wasn't really a makeup-and-heels kind of girl most of the time but she'd found herself feeling the urge to get dressy for the big night and had settled on a short plum colored dress that showed a lot more leg than she usually did and left her arms bare to the shoulders. _I really hope I haven't been pressing the whole date issue too much, _she thought to herself as experimented with different head bands for effect. _Its not like its even _that_ big of a deal... I mean, whatever this is that we have has been great. He's sweet, he's caring... he's surprisingly sexy when he wants to be even if he doesn't know it. I mean, hands down he's the best boyfriend I've ever had. Its just... _Mabel sighed to herself... _the sneaking. _

Though she hadn't voiced it to Dipper, because she knew he'd totally freak out and probably worry himself sick about her, she had to admit that all the sneaking around had been kind of getting to her. Mabel wasn't a terribly good liar and while she loved Dipper, and loved knowing that he loved her back, the fact that they had to keep it all a secret from _everyone _had just stressed her out somewhat. She wanted to feel like a normal girl and go out on a normal date with her boyfriend, even if this particular situation was admittedly anything but normal. The fact that Dipper, paranoid _paranoid_ Dipper, had agreed in the first place to a night on the town in public with her had just cemented in her heart how much this must have meant to him. How much _she _meant to him. _A guy like that's worth a little sneaking around for, _she thought with a smile. She gave herself a final once over in the mirror and nodded, satisfied with her look at last and took a deep breath, _now or never!_

"Hey Dipper, you ready to go yet?" she called out as she exited the room and heard him call back an affirmative from downstairs. Mabel made her way out of the attic and headed down to the parlor and saw Dipper sitting on the couch, absentmindedly watching TV but with his knee jangling in that way she knew he did when he was nervous. He still hadn't caught sight of her yet and she looked him over and saw that the ever-casual Dipper appeared to have made an effort to get himself dressed up for the night. True, he still had his old blue cap on but it would take a crowbar to separate him from at least some kind of head covering while in public due to his shyness about his birthmark. _Better do something to break the ice, _Mabel thought, _I don't want him to be crazy nervous all night._

"Ta-da!" she called out dramatically, startling Dipper and causing him to jump in his chair before turning to her quickly. The look of annoyed surprise on his face was instantly replaced by one of wide eyed admiration when he caught sight of her and Mabel felt a blush come to her cheeks when she saw his feelings written so plainly on his face. _Maybe I overdressed for tonight? _

"Mabel you look... gorgeous." Dipper said softly with a slow quiet smile coming onto his face and Mabel felt her cheeks redden even further.

"Oh, I'm alright," she joked nervously to deflect her sudden shyness, "but who is this radiant vision I see before me?" she asked in her best Drama Club faux-Shakespearean tone, "A shirt with long sleeves and buttons? _Clean _pants? Clothing colors that match your jacket? Who are you, beautiful stranger, and what have you done with my brother?"

"Cute. Real cute Mabel." Dipper replied in an easy bantering tone, and Mabel heard the nervousness start to melt out of his voice.

"Thank you! I think its the kitten earrings that really tie the whole outfit together, don't you agree?" she asked as she patted her hair with a flourish.

Dipper had risen to his feet and walked over to her slowly while she was exaggeratedly primping and Mabel felt her heart start to flutter in her chest as he drew close to her and cupped her face in his hand before bending down to plant a slow kiss on her lips that left her weak in the knees. _So much for getting the upper hand, _she thought with a sigh of contentment, _but at least he's definitely not nervous right now_.

"Oh yeah, its definitely the earrings." he said with a grin. _God she's beautiful. _"Well, shall we go? Our rusty blue chariot awaits."

"But of course, Sir Dipping-sauce. The night is young, and so are we!" she said with a laugh. "But first, I need you to hand it over."

"Hand what over?" Dipper asked, confusion plain in his voice.

"The, no doubt, super-detailed list that I'm positive that you have on you to make sure that tonight goes perfect." Mabel replied, holding out her hand toward him with the palm up.

"Mabel, I'm eighteen years old, not some lovestruck preteen kid. C'mon, do you really think I would still do something like that?" he asked, exasperation evident in his tone.

Mabel said nothing but instead raised an eyebrow and cocked her fingers twice at him. Dipper stood silent for a moment before he sighed and reached into the sleeve of his jacket and pulled out a well folded sheet of paper and dropped it into his sisters open hand. Mabel nodded, satisfied, and slipped the paper into her purse.

"Alright, now give me the real list. This was obviously the decoy that you knew I'd ask for."

"Mabel, please give me a just a little credit here-" he began but stopped when she gave him a knowing smile and he muttered quietly to himself before removing his hat and handing her another identical sheet of paper.

"You're good, you know that, right?" Dipper said as Mabel dropped the second list into her purse next to the first.

"Alpha twin." she said smugly with a smile, "Now c'mon, lets just go relax and have some fun!"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me." Dipper replied with an easy smile of his own. _Good thing she didn't ask about the third list. Maybe I DO have a problem?_

–

The drive into town went by quickly and the Pines soon found themselves in the heart of Gravity Falls, if the intersection of the two smallish main streets could really be said to be something so grand. Dipper pulled up and parked the car along the street and opened the door on Mabel's side before helping her out. It was a Friday night so unlike most evenings in the sleepy little town there was actually a moderate amount of activity going on.

"So, whats on the agenda for tonight boyfriend?" Mabel asked playfully as Dipper fed a few quarters into the parking meter.

"Well, you said you wanted something nice and normal – so I thought maybe dinner and a movie? You can't really get much more normal than that." Dipper replied.

"Sounds great, I'm starving! You can really only eat so much of Grunkle Stans cooking before you feel the urge to have something that tastes like it wasn't canned before the Korean War."

"Would you want to eat at the Club? Its kind of pricey, but I heard good things about them – and we still have plenty of vacation money left if we want to splurge a bit." Dipper asked. _Plus we don't really know anyone who would eat there, so its good cover, _he thought privately.

"Lead the way! I was always curious about that place. Such a fun shaped building too!" Mabel said cheerfully.

The two made their way down the main street toward the restaurant, chatting easily and before long their steps fell into perfect synchronization like they always did, and they found themselves being unconsciously drawn to walking closer together. With his heart pounding hard in his chest Dipper reached out his hand and found Mabel's, giving it a small squeeze and she glanced up at him and smiled. _Well, I'm holding her hand out in public. True, most people in town don't really know who we are but it still feels like a big step. _

The doorman at the Club had looked over the pair in that snooty way that only the low-paid employees of fancy places could give, but when Dipper pointed out the reservation made days ago under "D. Pines" the man relented and let them through into the building and they found themselves in a plush booth and with menus that appeared to have misplaced their decimal points in the pricing. _I may have overestimated our funds somewhat, _Dipper thought nervously as he scanned through the menu to try and find a single course that didn't cost more than what they made in a week at the Mystery Shack. Mabel was 'ooh-ing' and 'aaah-ing' over the atmosphere ("Free bread? Bubbly water? This is classy as heck!"), and the sight of her enjoying herself relaxed Dipper somewhat. Money might not be much of a problem for long if he could just get the finishing touches on his plan going after all. _Still have to work out some kinks though... like what Mabel would think._

The pair made their order and after the waiter had glided off Dipper found himself looking across the ornate candelabra into Mabel's smiling face and felt himself starting to really relax at seeing her cheerful expression. _Maybe I don't really need the list after all. _

"So," Dipper began, "I'm, uh, not really sure about the protocol for first date gifts, but I got you something."

"Dipper, you shouldn't have." Mabel said with a smile. _He can be pretty cute when he gets awkward. _

"Well, maybe I shouldn't have but I did anyway." he said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out an oblong box wrapped in gold colored paper and passing it across the table to her.

Mabel took the box in her hands and felt a familiar weight that caused her to squeal, loudly, with joy and she began to tear into the packaging like a hungry dog. A few of the restaurant patrons turned to glance their way but quickly turned back after seeing Dipper glare at them with a furious scowl.

"A new grappling hook!" she squeaked. "Where did you even get this? I thought Grunkle Stan had to stop selling them after all those lawsuits!"

"He did, but I found one up in the boxes of old merchandise last week... it was broken but I managed to fix it up good as new in my spare time with a little help from Soos."

"This is the best! I've felt naked without this thing." Mabel said as she twirled the bulky device in her hand like a gunfighter in a bad western.

"Well, careful with it while we're in this place. I don't think we could afford to fix anything here if something gets broken." _I think the chair I'm sitting in probably cost more than my car. Then again lots of things cost more than my car._

"Such a worry-wart." Mabel said playfully before slipping the machine into her purse with ease despite the fact that it seemed far too large to fit at first glance. "Seriously though... I love it. Thank you."

"Hey, I never know when you might need it to save my butt again." Dipper joked.

"Well you just better make sure you keep your butt out of mortal danger... it was seriously scary how close things got last time. Sometimes I still wake up at night remembering... wondering what would have happened if the rope hadn't held." Mabel said quietly.

"I know." Dipper said softly. _I can't let anything get that close to hurting you again. Never._

"Blah – ok its getting a little too real here. Time for some first-date type conversation." Mabel said playfully, shaking off the somberness from her voice. "Tell me Mr. Pines, what is it that you do?"

"Oh, well currently I'm in the entertainment industry." Dipper said quickly, picking up on Mabel's tone.

"Interesting! So, what is it that you do? Acting? Music?" Mabel continued.

"I give guided tours through my great-uncles tourist trap museum that I also live above."

"Fascinating. Any hobbies?"

"Well, I've got quite an interest in the paranormal. Mysteries also."

"Mysteries, like a detective? Sexy." Mabel said with an exaggerated kittenish meow at the end of the sentence. "Solve any good ones lately?"

"Well my friend Soos and I thought that we'd discovered the magic valley of the leprechauns last week." Dipper said brightly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but it turned out to just be another bunch of gnomes." Dipper said with disappointment.

"I hate when that happens." Mabel nodded sympathetically.

"They were real jerks about it too. Ended up chasing us through the forest till we lost them across a river. You should see them try to swim with those stubby little arms of theirs." Dipper added with a chuckle.

"Wait, is this something that actually happened or just more fake date-banter?" Mabel said with a note of confusion in her voice.

"Totally real. You were off with Candy and Grenda that day I think, otherwise I definitely would have wanted you along – the pictures I take never seem to come out right compared to yours."

"I'm pretty okay with avoiding the gnomes actually. I mean, they wanted to marry me when I was a gawky twelve year old, so I'm pretty sure now that I'm grown that they couldn't keep themselves away from all this." she said as she gestured to herself with a cartoonishly saucy waggle of her eyebrows.

"Well they'd have to go through me first," Dipper said with an exaggerated bravado. "Any creepy little fairy-thing that tries to lay a hand on my girlfriend will have a lot more than leaf blowers to worry about."

"So bold!" Mabel said with a false swoon that set them both laughing until the annoyed waiter had arrived bearing their food and the twins cut their conversation short to enjoy the extremely over-priced but very delicious meal that they had ordered.

–

Dinner had gone extremely well all around, though Dipper had winced at the thought of how much of his vacation fund had gotten used up with just that one meal. Mabel had jokingly, or maybe not so jokingly considering it was Mabel, offered to perform a grappling hook assisted dine and dash with him but he'd declined politely in favor of not spending the evening in police custody.

_Maybe I should have taken her up on it though, _he thought as he slipped his significantly thinner wallet into his back pocket before taking Mabel's arm and leading them out the restaurant and back into the street.

"So, it was going to be a movie next, right?" Mabel asked as they walked along together, enjoying the cool evening air and one another's company.

"That's the plan – I'm pretty sure I still have enough on me to cover it... just don't ask for the extra large popcorn." Dipper joked.

"No worries bro, the pictures are on me tonight." Mabel said. She paused and turned to glance over at a knot of young people chatting near the entrance of the arcade, "Speaking of which – give me second."

Dipper watched, confused, as Mabel ran over toward the small group and grabbed hold of a young guy in a mohawk who looked about their own age and threw her arm over his neck as she posed herself next to him with an enormous fake grin. He seemed extremely confused as Mabel pulled her phone from her purse and quickly snapped several pictures of themselves before she ran back over to Dipper. The guy returned to his friends shaking his head with a blank look on his face, the usual reaction most guys had when they found themselves suddenly struck by Hurricane Mabel.

"Who was that?" Dipper asked.

"He's Charlie. He likes skateboarding and horses. He works in his dads hardware store and we met at the arcade. We're madly in love, but I think he's going to break my heart before the end of the summer and I'll be too distraught to date for a while." Mabel said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, okay. No, but really who was that?" Dipper said, even more confused than before.

"I dunno, but as far as mom's going to know he's my new boyfriend while I'm up here for the summer. She's always asking about that kind of stuff." Mabel said.

"Thats actually a pretty clever plan." Dipper said, impressed.

"Well I make plans too you know, I just don't write them down into huge lists." Mabel said.

"Do you think I should get a fake girlfriend for cover too?" Dipper asked playfully.

"I think it might be more believable if you didn't." Mabel teased.

"Ouch. What, are you saying that girls aren't into me?" Dipper replied while clutching his chest as if wounded.

"Well if they are then they better back off right now – Mabel P. don't share her man!" Mabel said with mock sternness.

"So I'm your man now?"

"Yup. Gotta make it official though. Maybe we could get you a big 'M' tattoo right on your butt?" she said in a thoughtful way while tapping her chin.

"This is getting way too kinky for me."

"Spoilsport." Mabel replied, sticking out her tongue.

Before long the pair found themselves outside the Gravity Falls Cineplex, which Dipper had always felt was a much too bombastic name for an old theater that only had 4 screens and got their movies months behind the rest of the country.

"Well, since you're the one paying – what do you think we should see?" Dipper asked, glancing over at the small number of available choices.

"Oooh, how about '_Time Enough For Love'_? I never got to catch that one when it was in theaters back home." Mabel said, pointing to the poster for what looked like the blandest romantic comedy Dipper could have imagined.

"Eh I dunno... a romantic comedy Mabel?" he said hesitantly.

"Weeellll, if you aren't into that the only other movie playing right now is '_Evil Doll IV: Murderous Marionette Mayhem'. _How does that one sound?" she asked, pointing out a poster which showed a ventriloquist dummy clutching a bloody butcher knife.

Dipper felt the sweat bead on his forehead as he stared into the cold lifeless eyes of the puppet on the poster and Mabel saw his pupils shrink down till they seemed to be the size of pinholes.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure I remember hearing lots of good things about _'Time Enough For Love'_, totally worth giving it a chance." Dipper said stiffly with a nervous chuckle.

"I still don't see how someone who fought a bloodsucking monster with just a stick can be so scared of puppets." Mabel teased.

"I'm not scared of puppets... they just creep me out a lot. There's a difference." Dipper muttered defensively.

"Sure thing crazy, I'll go get us the tickets." Mabel said with a smile.

The theater was mostly empty, with the only other patrons being an elderly couple sitting far in the front row and Mabel had lead Dipper by the hand up to her favorite seats up in the very furthest back row. The movie turned out not to be as terrible as Dipper had feared it would be. The acting was decent in parts and there was actually a somewhat interesting time travel plot involved that he'd found himself being unconsciously drawn toward. Mabel had ordered only a single large bucket of popcorn and had placed it between them to share, so that it was practically inevitable that their buttery hands would end up touching throughout the movie. Naturally this lead to hand holding, which of course escalated into making out furiously in the darkened privacy of the theater with Dipper's heart pounding hard in his chest at the realization that he was _kissing_ Mabel in public. This was the first real kiss they had shared since the day of the bat-attack that wasn't done in the locked-door privacy of their shared attic room and though he couldn't stop the paranoia from triggering in the back of his mind he was also just exulting in the feeling of Mabel's lips against his, of hearing her soft sighs close and hot in his ear and of the scent of her floral shampoo mingling with the artificial butter of the popcorn they'd just been eating. They'd completely lost track of the plot of the movie before long and were each totally surprised when the theater lights came up again as the ending credits played, the both of them flustered and disheveled from their recent distraction. The old couple in the front had already gone and they were left alone in the dim theater with their eyes stinging from the light.

"Good movie." Dipper panted with a blush coming to his face at the realization that they both probably looked like sort of a mess right now. He brushed stray popcorn kernels from his jacket as he rose to his feet and helped Mabel up from her seat.

"Definitely," Mabel replied, "Can't wait for the sequel." she added with a wink as she straightened out her hair.

"Me too." Dipper flirted back, "When do you think its coming out?"

"That depends," Mabel said as she picked herself up on tip-toes and whispered silkily in Dippers ear, "how fast do you think you can drive your car back to the shack?"

Dippers eyes widened slightly as he caught the sight of Mabel looking up at him with her bottom lip between her teeth and her eyes shining with a combination of shyness and boldness that struck him right to the core. _Is she saying what I think she's saying? Does she want to..._

"Fast." He said quickly. "Very fast." he took her hand and they both started jogging out of the theater lobby giggling, making their way down the street and back to the car.


	10. Chapter 10

_July 7__th_

"Okay, the most important thing is to remember to stay in character." Mabel said as she examined her handiwork critically before going back in with a stick of greasepaint to add yet another defining shadow.

"I swear I'm going to get you back for this Mabel." Dipper said in an oddly muffled tone from his seat on the chair in the attic, his neck achingly stiff from having been forced to remain motionless for so long.

"Now here's your motivation: you're a creature of the night- but you are also a creature of passion!" she said, adding the last part dramatically while deftly applying yet another thin patch of fake fur to her brothers face.

"No jury would convict me." Dipper grumbled in a joking monotone, the plastic costume teeth in his mouth making speech an awkward act.

"Hey, you said it yourself that it was going to be my turn to plan out our next date – so here we are." Mabel said as she stepped back to give her latest masterpiece a once over before nodding her head in satisfaction. She picked up a hand mirror from her small trestle table of equipment and passed it over to Dipper who took it wordlessly and raised it to his face.

"Wow... Mabel this is _really_ good. I can't even recognize me!" Dipper said, impressed despite his annoyance at the long wait. The face that glared back at him from the mirror stared with the burning golden eyes of the costume contacts that Mabel had him put on before she had set to work and his own familiar features were obscured by layers of false fur, yellowed monster fangs and an oddly snout-ish latex nose. _Its not just the werewolf makeup though, _Dipper thought as he turned his head this way and that to get a more complete look, _she actually made my _face _look different too. _He saw how Mabel had managed to use her often underestimated artistic skills to seemingly sculpt his cheekbones, brow and jawline to appear different enough so that while he still looked like a man who was wearing werewolf makeup, he didn't look like _Dipper _wearing werewolf makeup.

"Well duh, thats the whole point of a disguise, silly." Mabel said playfully as she packed up her costuming equipment and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Absolutely no one is going to be able to recognize you under all that jazz at the big Summerween bash tonight, so we'll be free to get as romantic as we feel like out in public, even if people we know are there!" she said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I got that part of the plan," Dipper said as he stood up and shifted around uncomfortably, "but why am I in these leather pants also?"

"Well whats the point of having a new boytoy if you can't show him off?" Mabel said saucily as she gave Dipper a slow approving look up and down, causing him to blush under the layers of costuming obscuring his face. _God he's so cute when he gets all squirmy and bashful!_ She thought as she giggled internally at his expression.

"Where did you even get these things anyway?" Dipper asked in confusion as he ran his hands over the unfamiliar texture covering his legs.

"I found them while digging around in those boxes of old clothes- I guess they were Stan's at some point." Mabel said casually.

Dipper shuddered in quiet horror to himself at the thought. _The things I do for love. _

"Ok, now that you're all finished up I need to get my costume on too. Grunkle Stan won't be back from the store for a while so it should give us enough time to head out together before he asks too many questions."

"What were you going to be dressing up as again?" Dipper asked.

"You'll see in a few minutes, till then just try and relax. Don't move your face around too much until the latex glue sets though or else it might fall off later." Mabel called back to him as she headed down to the bathroom to get changed with a bag from the Summerween store in her hand.

_Easier said than done, _Dipper thought grumpily at the feel of all the unfamiliar junk on his skin causing him to suddenly itch like crazy. Resisting the almost maddening urge to scratch with all his willpower, Dipper lay back gently in his bed and cracked open one of the many mystery novels that he had packed for the trip and thumbed over toward the dog-ear he had left in it the last time he'd read it. Admittedly that hadn't been in quite a long while since he and Mabel had found more interesting pursuits to occupy their time ever since the night of The Date. The change in the twins sex life, namely the fact that they now _had _a sex life, had seemed to shift their already fairly intense relationship up into a new level and Dipper had found himself going through his days in a sort of golden-pink haze as a result. _I don't think I've ever honestly been more happy in all of my life, _Dipper reflected to himself as he absentmindedly skimmed the page with only half-interest, _even if I am wearing what feels like 30 pounds of monster face and my great uncles old biker pants. _Dipper had also found himself growing bolder in the days since The Date had passed, finding more excuses to get close to Mabel during the daytime when he normally had tried to stay distant before to keep up appearances. He had meant what he said to her that night; he wasn't ashamed of how he felt for her and he wanted to let her know it every way he could. Mabel, for her part, had taken notice of this shift in his attitude and had responded to it with a warmth of her own. Her own admission that night about the way the pressure of their secrecy had been effecting her was causing Dipper to start to reevaluate everything about their strange situation in a new light and he felt the plan that had been ticking over in his head grow ever more clear with each passing day. _I can't lose her, _he thought, _now more than ever I can't lose her. I don't care what it will take. _

Dipper shook the serious thoughts from his head and tried to focus on the book in his hands instead. _Party tonight, no time for any scheming – Mabel planned this one out, so lets show her a good time! I wonder what she'll be wearing? Knowing Mabel she'll probably show up in that big goofy foam banana suit she was marveling at in the costume shop after making me go through all the effort of getting into this elaborate werewolf getup. _He winced inwardly remembering the way she'd he had held up the costume and asked if he thought it would make her look "a-peeling"._ That would be pretty typical of her... of course its not like I don't find all that silliness of hers adorable as all hell, so I don't think I'd mind. Not unless she wanted to get frisky in the banana suit that is... well... maybe I wouldn't mind even then to be totally honest. How would you even do it in a banana suit though? Wait, why am I even wondering this? Hormones, what have you done to me!_

"Ok, ready to go!" Mabel called out from downstairs and Dipper hopped up to his feet and headed down the creaking steps to the living room where he saw Mabel standing waiting for him in a costume that actually made his jaw drop, something he had always thought of as just a poetic exaggeration till now. _So much for the banana suit theory, _Dipper thought, stunned.

Mabel was leaning against the banister at the foot of the stairs in a figure hugging black dress of some satiny material that was cut low and deep, exposing quite an eyeful of cleavage. She had painted her face up to be pale but with coal black eyeliner and blood red lips that glistened wetly in the light and made her white plastic vampire fangs stand out against them like ivory. Dipper also spotted an enormous fake ruby that glittered on a silver choker around her slender neck, and he noted that her normally warm mahogany eyes were masked by a set of fiery red contact lenses. Typical of Mabel, she had also added a silly looking cat-eared headband as well as some crudely drawn whiskers and a black nose spot penciled onto her face.

"Double costume- a sexy vampire babe dressed as a cute kitty-cat! What do you think?" she asked as she stood with a hand on her hip and a wide grin on her face.

"Thats... thats quite an outfit." Dipper said slowly. _Try not to drool too much if you can help it Dipper. Remember your dignity... wow that dress is pretty tight there... dignity!_

"Glad you like," Mabel said with a smile, "I just figured: Vampire plus Werewolf- thats pretty much the ultimate Summerween power-couple right there!"

"Heh, yeah – I can see the logic there." Dipper said, darting his eyes up from Mabel's inviting cleavage and back to her face with a sloppy grin.

Mabel frowned slightly as she looked over at Dipper. "Somethings not quite right here though..." she said quizzically before she walked toward him, the tight fabric of the dress exaggerating every fluid motion in her steps. She came up to him slowly and placed her hands on the lapels of his shirt, gripping them tightly – unconsciously Dipper felt himself start to draw his face toward hers to kiss her before she gave a sudden violent grunt and tore his shirt open, sending the buttons pinging off into the distant corners of the room.

"Mabel, what the hell?" Dipper asked in surprise as she stepped back and admired her handiwork.

"Well the book is called '_Wolfman: Bare Chest_', I'm just trying to get it as accurate as possible." she said teasingly.

"This was my only nice shirt. Seriously, I don't own any other ones." Dipper said with a slight frown.

"I'll sew the buttons back on later, its not a biggie." Mabel said playfully as she slowly traced a finger down from her boyfriends newly exposed collar bone to just above the waistline of his pants, smiling at the way her gentle touch had sent a slight shudder through his skin. "Besides, I like the view this way better."

She gasped in surprise as she felt Dippers arms shoot out and pull her in close, one gripping loosely about her shoulders and the other low and tight around her waist. "Ditto." he said before bending down to kiss her hard, their pointy prosthetic teeth clacking oddly against one another. Even with the clumsiness of the makeup getting in the way Mabel felt her heart flutter and her leg raise like the heroine in one of the cheesy romantic comedies she adored at the intensity of the kiss and had to throw her arms over Dippers neck to keep herself steady.

"Mmmm... save me some of those for later." she murmured happily as they slowly broke their kiss and headed out to the car together, hand in hand.

"Ok, so if I remember your plan correctly – we park about a block away, then you go in first and I go in like, fifteen or twenty minutes later so it doesn't look like we came together, right?" Dipper asked as he opened up the passenger side door to let Mabel into the car.

"Correct - Dipper is off on a camping trip by the lake to try and see if he can record footage of a lake monster and he let me borrow his car for the night." Mabel said.

"That was very generous of him. You know, for someone who said she didn't like lying you are actually really good at coming up with this stuff." Dipper said.

"It gets a lot easier if I just think of it all as a big play – then it almost becomes sort of fun. Oh don't forget the best part! You are playing a mysterious foreign exchange student visiting from Eastern Europe. Do the voice!" Mabel said with a grin.

"Mabel, I don't want to do the voice." Dipper said with a sigh as he rolled his eyes.

"C'mon! You actually aren't too bad at it. Do the voice – pleeeeeease?" she asked with clasped hands and shining eyes, her painted lips drawn into a soft pout.

"Ugh. Fine, I vill do ze voice." Dipper said in a thick and entirely unconvincing accent that sounded half Bela Lugosi and half war-movie German soldier.

"Perfection!" Mabel said with a cheerful squeal. "Okay Gerard, we are off!"

"_Da_." Dipper said stoically.

"Pretty sure that's Russian, smart-guy." Mabel teased.

"I don't zink anyone at ze party vill know ze difference." Dipper joked back as he turned the key and set the sputtering old engine roaring to life.

An oddly familiar tune echoed from the radio and Dipper and Mabel both paused as they recognized the sounds of '_Werewolves of London_' tinkling out from the static-y speaker. Dipper reached down to change the station but felt Mabel's hand shoot out to grasp his wrist in a death-grip.

"Don't you dare." she said with a laugh, "It's perfect!"

Singing along off-key to the old song, the pair made their way into town in high spirits.

–

After he had finished waiting bored out on the curb for the pre-deterimined time Dipper made his way through the door and into the blasting noise of the party, which was currently being held in a new all-ages club that was trying to sell itself as a trendy hotspot for young people to hang out. Dipper personally gave the place a few more months before it folded up entirely since it didn't really seem to match the character of anything else locally around town, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to enjoy himself tonight while it was still here. The lighting was alternating between too dim to see clearly and flashing to eye searing intensity, but he managed to adjust to it in a few minutes before he started scanning the room for Mabel. The crowd was a mixture of older teens and people who looked like they were about the right age for mid-college, with the occasional 'adult-adult' scattered here and there, usually looking out of place and uncomfortable amid the bustle. _Where could she be? _Dipper thought as he craned his neck over the heads of a group of giggling high school age girls pointing out his costume to one another. _Stupid '_Wolfman: Bare Chest_' craze, _Dipper cursed internally, _Mabel doesn't even really like those books that much anymore, she just dressed me up like this to mess with me. Though the way she was looking at me earlier when she tore open my shirt... Ok, I gotta draw the line somewhere hormones, and I think participating in werewolf sex-fantasies is a good place for that line. Maybe. I'm pretty sure she was just messing with me though, so this entire line of thought is moot. I really need to get a less stupid internal monologue, _Dipper cursed to himself silently.

_Aha! There she is, _Dipper thought with a smile, _not sure why I didn't check the dance floor first, that's pretty much the only place she would want to be at a place like this. _Mabel was currently out near the center of the room dancing with Candy (in a very elaborate robot costume complete with flashing LEDs) and Grenda (who Dipper was surprised to see made an excellent Valkyrie), the three of them just moving together in a relaxed way to the heavy beat of the music blasting out from the speakers near the stage. Dipper could see a few stray single guys scattered among the dancing couples and saw that many of their eyes were drawn to Mabel, and though he knew that there was absolutely no basis for any jealousy he still felt a hot spark of anger flare in his chest at seeing the way they looked at her. _Keep your cool man, _Dipper said to himself, _there's no reason to get all aggro just because some guys are looking at a girl who you just happen to be going out with. Of course they are looking... she's beautiful. She's beautiful and I'm the incredibly lucky guy who is here with her... well, sort of here with her. That guy over there who looks like he wants to head over better back off though or he's going to see what the wrong end of a shrink ray looks like. Gah, seriously dude calm down - don't go full manotaur here! Mabel can take care of herself. _The aforementioned guy did indeed make his way over, but Mabel had deflected him with a shake of her head and he had instead found himself gripped about the shoulders by Grenda who pulled him in for a dance instead. Mabel glanced off to the side and her expression lit up as she caught Dippers eye, giving him a quick wink and gesturing him forward with a crooking motion of her finger while her friends weren't looking. Dipper felt an appropriately wolfish grin spread over his face as he started to make his way over to the group, but halfway there Dipper was gripped by a sudden and totally irrational nervousness, of the sort he'd always felt on the rare occasions that he had gone up to ask a strange girl to dance for the first time... which made no sense at all because this was _Mabel. _He'd known her literally his entire life... of course if the whole charade of the night was to be kept up he had to pretend to be a total stranger and that meant approaching her like one, and Dipper suddenly felt a beat of panic at the realization that he really wasn't all that good at acting, that his fake accent was incredibly stupid & that he was certain that Mabel's friends would see through their ruse in a heartbeat. _Crap. What am I even doing here? Am I seriously going to just walk right over and ask her to dance in a voice like Dracula's even lamer cousin and expect her friends NOT to notice that its obviously me? _Mabel cocked her head slightly at seeing the hesitation come into his step and silently mouthed '_Whats wrong_?' at him, with a look of such genuine concern on her face that Dipper consciously started to push his insecurity aside. _This is Mabel here – if I can try to fight a monster for her sake then I can ask her to dance, even if I have to do it in a stupid voice. Really this is way easier if you think about it. Piece of cake._

As if sensing his earlier nervousness Mabel had started to come toward him as he was debating with himself and the pair ended up meeting halfway under the flickering strobe-lights, with the cheesy smoke from the fog machine swirling around their ankles. They stood there, arms length apart and Dipper ached to pull her in close but held himself back for the sake of the little drama that Mabel was staging tonight.

"Vould ze lady care to danse?" Dipper asked, laying the hammy accent on thick as a stack of bricks and Mabel giggled a little before nodding at him with a twinkle in her eye.

"I would love to, mysterious stranger." she said, moving in closer and Dipper felt the familiar relaxing smell of her jasmine scented shampoo drift into his face as they started to move together with Mabel moving along to the beat and Dipper always just slightly off. _He's not much of a dancer, _Mabel thought to herself, _but this is Dipper, so he doesn't need to be. Besides, _she found herself thinking with a wicked grin flashing briefly across her lips, _I know he can move _very _well in other ways. Especially that last time..._

Mabel had been conscious over the past few days of how fast things had been moving between the two of them, but in many ways it had made sense to her. They had been together all their lives, so there wasn't going to be any awkward 'getting to know you' period where they had to probe out one another's personalities and interests and secrets... she knew Dipper almost better than he knew himself and he knew her just as well, to the point where she sometimes thought that they might end up doing that creepytwin thing where they could complete each others sentences. The way he looked at her, the feel of something as simple as his hand gripping hers, even his smell... she couldn't help but feel her breath catch and her pulse pound in her veins when she thought of him and remembered that he was hers and vice versa. _This is what romance feels like, _Mabel had thought with her heart racing as they danced, _the real stuff, not whatever it was that I had with those guys I had dated in school. None of them made me feel this alive... this happy... none of them had made me want them like this... made me need them like this. _There was just something about Dipper that had kicked Mabel's once mostly dormant sex-drive into high gear and she had found herself initiating things half the time and was always thrilled when he made a move on her the other half (admittedly usually after she had spent a little time teasing and building him up till he snapped). She had found the reality of it all to be SO much better than anything she had imagined while reading her well-thumbed collection of romance novels (even the especially steamy ones she kept hidden in a shoe box under her bed back home). _You've got it bad girl, _Mabel thought to herself as she felt her eyes moving over Dippers bare chest as they drew closer in the dance, _but he looks like he has it about the same judging by the way he's been ogling me all night. Maybe we'll leave the party early..._

"Hey, do you mind if I cut in?" a voice interjected from the side, snapping Mabel out of her drifting thoughts. She turned to see a tall blonde guy who looked about twenty giving her a wide easy smile.

"Yes. I do." Dipper _growled _at him, and Mabel felt the grip of his hands on her tighten briefly as he drew his lips back over his false monster teeth in a grimacing scowl.

It was a testament either to Dippers sudden intensity or Mabel's costuming skills that the blonde's eyes widened slightly and he held up his hands while stepping back slowly. "Easy there psycho. I'm gonna be on my way now." he said, shooting a confused glare back over his shoulder as he walked away.

"Um.. sorry." Dipper said quietly to Mabel, embarrassment at his sudden outburst evident in his tone.

"Why Gerard, you're so fierce!" Mabel said teasingly, running a reassuring hand up his arm and onto his shoulder.

Recovering his confidence, Dipper drew Mabel in closer to himself, "Well, I _am _a creature of passion after all." he joked with a nervous chuckle.

"Hey, you stopped doing the voice." Mabel said with a false pout as they began to dance once again when a new song came up, an industrial track with a heavy thumping beat that sent Mabel's hips and shoulders swaying to and fro.

"The voice was stupid." Dipper said flatly.

"The voice _was _stupid," Mabel chuckled in agreement, "but it was sweet of you to do it for me anyway."

"Hey, anything to put a smile on my Mabel's face." Dipper said with a smile of his own, and even through the animalistic contact lenses and the thick layers of latex and hair obscuring his face Mabel felt something shoot through her at seeing the raw adoration in his expression. _He loves me... like, really deep down to his core loves me. It's almost too much, knowing that... and knowing how I feel the same and all of it just tangling together._

"Anything?" she said teasingly to try and deflect her sudden feeling of vulnerability with a little light flirting.

"Try me." he shot back with a challenging smile. _He's gotten better at flirting too, _she smiled, _more confident. _

"I intend to later." Mabel purred in response, tracing her nails across his shoulders and over the back of his neck which she knew would set him off and she was rewarded with the shiver she saw pass through him. _Wow... we are getting a bit _too_ intense here, _she thought, _maybe I better dial it back a little before we end up tearing each others clothes off in the middle of the dance floor. Mmmm... thats a mental image. _"Hey, want to go get some drinks after this dance? I'm feeling pretty parched." she said in a more normal tone.

"Sure," Dipper said, shaking his head as if to clear it, "sounds good to me." _Get a grip on yourself man, _he chided himself, _the night has barely started and you already want to throw her over your shoulder and drag her back up to the room... gotta pace yourself or she'll think that you don't have any self control. Try to spare at least a little blood for your brain tonight._

When the pair had made their way over to the snack bar they ran into Candy and Grenda (still gripping her captive dance partner in an affectionate headlock) and Dipper felt himself start to sweat. _Okay... here is where it all falls apart, _he thought to himself.

"Hey Mabel, who's your friend?" Grenda asked as she gave Mabel a wide grin.

"Well... this is..um," Mabel began falteringly. _Oh man this is so much harder in real life than it was in my head, _Mabel thought nervously.

"Gerard," Dipper said quickly after he saw Mabel's hesitation, once again slathering on the ludicrous accent, "from Translovakia. Mabel vas just showing me some of your American dances." _They are never going to buy this._

Silence ticked on for a few uncomfortable seconds.

"Neat!" Grenda said loudly, and Dipper felt himself breathing a deep sigh of relief.

"I don't think I've ever heard of that country." Candy said in a quietly confused tone, but Mabel recovered her composure and frantically patted her friend on the back.

"Well yeah, it was one of those ones that got renamed during that whole ...Soviet Union-y... thing... thats why its not on any map, right Gerard?" Mabel said with a too-high laugh.

"_Da_." Dipper said quickly.

"Oh." Candy said. "Well, how are you liking America?" she asked.

_Thank god this is the most gullible city in America, _Dipper thought as relief flooded his system. _Now to just try and keep it up for the rest of the night. _He glanced over at Mabel and she gave him a quick smile that banished any of his earlier nervousness. _Maybe this will be a little fun after all._

–

It was near midnight now and the Pines twins made their way out of the club and into the deserted street, laughing loudly as they walked along together.

"I can't believe you told them you were a musician!" Mabel chortled as she gave Dipper a playful shove.

"I thought it would be more impressive," Dipper laughed, "besides, I am a musician."

"Dipper, you played the tuba in band- that is like the least sexy instrument imaginable. It's like being serenaded by a giant metal whoopee cushion." Mabel teased.

"Touche," Dipper replied. "What was that bit about me being a Count though? I thought Translovakia was a republic?" he joked.

"It doesn't even exist, so it can be a monarchy if I want." Mabel said matter-of-factly.

"So, how did we do?" Dipper asked.

"I think it went great! Thanks for stepping up when I started to choke back there..." Mabel said, giving his hand a small squeeze.

"Hey, no problem... and you were right, it was pretty great to just go out and have some fun tonight. Sorry for giving you a hard time about it back at the house earlier." Dipper replied.

"Told you! Tonight was pretty fantastic... but the nights not over yet," Mabel said playfully as she glanced up at Dipper with a sly look in her eyes.

They stopped under a streetlight and he felt his heart pounding in his chest hard. No matter how many times he had gotten to kiss Mabel it always seemed to set him soaring high in his mind as that first time when he'd thrown all caution aside and done it. He cupped her chin in his hand and bent to her slowly but before their lips could meet a loud chorus of groans drifted through the air and the pair turned to find the source of the sound.

A shadowy mass of figures was shuffling their way up the street in the distance, the dull yellow lights of the street illuminating grey skin and dull staring eyes. They shambled forward, arms outstretched and their voices creaked and sighed out a dull deep sound that seemed to echo with an unspeakable pain.

"Neat! I didn't know this town was doing a Zombie Walk for Summerween." Mabel said as she pulled her ever-present camera from her purse and snapped a picture of the slowly approaching crowd.

The cool night breeze blew in and Dipper caught the edge of a scent like leaf mould combined with a dumpster full of bad steak. "Um... I think those might actually be real zombies Mabel."

"What, seriously?" Mabel said as she cocked her head and glanced back at the crowd. As if on cue an arm fell off one of the ones in the lead and the severed limb began to drag itself forward by its fingers, twitching and jerking spastically.

"Pretty certain." Dipper said with a nod.

"But this was supposed to be date night!" she said, annoyance in her voice.

"Tell that to the horde of the undead over there." Dipper said, his mind racing as panic started to catch up with him.

"What do we do?" Mabel asked, her own voice taking on an edge as the reality of the bizarre situation dawned on her as well.

"Ok... um... well, currently they are all crowded around where we parked the car... so driving away is probably out of the question. But we can't just let them tear up the town... Alright, follow me!" Dipper said, grabbing Mabel's hand and dragging her down the street, frantically glancing at the windows and signs of all the closed down shops until he spotted the right one and jerked to a halt, patting his pockets frantically until he pulled out an ornate black key, slipped it easily into the lock and threw open the door. _Thank you President Trembley!_

Dipper flipped the light switch and the twins stood blinking in the middle of the small hardware store, with the dull fluorescent brightness reflecting off the various tools hanging on the racks that lined the walls.

"Okay, so here's the plan- we get armed, fight our way to the car & then follow the trail to where these things are coming from. Its been a while since I read that section in zombies in my old journal but I'm pretty sure someone has to have made them. Dead people don't walk around too much on their own usually." Dipper said as he hefted a shovel experimentally.

"Why are we always the ones who have to deal with this junk?" Mabel groused as she looked over the shelves.

"That's just part of the fun of being one of the Mystery Twins." Dipper said with grim humor as he grabbed a machete from a nearby shelf and stuffed it into his belt with a nod.

"Oh man, I'm so taking this!" Mabel said excitedly as she hefted a chainsaw with a grunt, the smile on her face combining with her Summerween makeup to give her a ghoulish appearance.

"C'mon, its super heavy, really loud and we don't have any fuel for it. Here, try this one instead." Dipper said as he handed her a sharp flat spade which she took with a sour expression.

"I'm just trying to make the best of this," Mabel said as she leaned the tool over her shoulder, "I mean, tonight was supposed to be special."

"An attack by the living dead isn't special?" Dipper joked nervously as he grabbed a wood chopping axe from the wall and took a practice swing with it.

"I meant special in the good way you butt." Mabel replied, sticking out her tongue at him.

_You really can't keep her down for long can you? _Dipper marveled to himself at the speed at which his sister had adjusted to the current situation. _I'm almost ready to scream here, but she's still just being Mabel. God she's amazing!_

"I promise I'll make it up to you next time, for now lets just focus on staying alive long enough to reach the car. I'll go first, no arguments this time-" he said before Mabel could interrupt, "we don't want to crowd each other while swinging sharp things in the dark, that sounds like a recipe for an emergency room trip if I ever heard it. I'll try and distract them away from the car, then you get in and drive over to get me."

"Fine, but don't expect me to run away if you get in trouble." Mabel said with determination as she caught the keys Dipper tossed her way.

"Agreed. You ready?" Dipper asked with a deep calming breath as he gripped the heavy axe in his hands tightly to keep himself from trembling. He looked over at Mabel and saw her licking her lips nervously, the tip of her tongue stained red from the violent shade of her lipstick and her fingers drumming frantically on the handle of the spade he had handed her earlier. _She's just as scared as me, she's just better at hiding it. Gotta keep her safe. No matter what I gotta keep her safe._

Mabel nodded once, silently and Dipper felt his own trembling stop as they threw open the door and stalked carefully down the street toward the car, drawing closer to the shambling crowd. _Maybe they'll ignore us? _Dipper thought hopefully until he saw one of the closest ones turn its hideous face toward him and lurch forward violently with its arms thrown wide and a dull roar shrieking out from its dry throat, _Spoke too soon_

"Stay back Mabel!" Dipper yelled as he stepped forward and swung the heavy axe into the head of the bony attacker, driving it to the floor with the force of his swing. The noise had drawn the attention of several of the others and they started to shuffle toward him with their hands twitching, their gnarled fingers clutched into claws and a dull glow in their filmy eyes. _They make this look a lot easier in the movies, _Dipper thought as he pulled the blade free with a grunt of effort and brought it up again for a second swing, taking another zombie off at the knees and sending it toppling back into the ones behind it to send them bowling over in a heap. _Wow, these guys are really uncoordinated. _With a yelp Dipper kicked the head off one of the creatures as it crawled closer to him clutching at his ankle and tried to draw the rest toward him with shouts and noise. _I can't see Mabel... but she hasn't called for help so I have to assume she's safe. God she better be safe. There are a lot more of these guys than I had imagined... _he thought as he saw the shambling mass start to surround him as he stepped back taking wide sweeping swings with the axe, his breath growing heavy with the effort. _I think this time might really be it... I might not make it out of this one alive. _The fear was gripping his heart now with iron claws but Dipper felt his jaws clamp down in a defiant scowl as he threw the heavy axe aside and pulled the much lighter machete out from its sheath. _This is stupid! Who even gets killed by zombies? I was just supposed to be having a nice night out with Mabel tonight! I hope she makes it out of this okay... she should be fine if she can make it back to the shack... Stan does have all those guns around in case someone tries to bring a ladder into the house after all. _

The blast of a car horn shook Dipper from his despairing thoughts as he saw the hood of his old blue sedan suddenly plow through the crowd of ghouls that had been reaching toward him and the passenger side door was thrown open wide.

"Get in you idiot!" Mabel shouted at him, waving her arm frantically. Dipper dived in and slammed the door shut as the tires squealed against the road crushing the groaning bodies all around them.

"Seatbelt!" Mabel snapped at him as he shook himself blearily, and he clicked the buckle into place as the car roared its way down the road, thumping as it tossed the bodies of the walking dead left and right.

"I think I'm going to have to get this thing washed tomorrow." Dipper said as he saw a severed arm flop onto the windshield and slide oozingly off to the side.

"That would probably be a good idea." Mabel agreed as she cut the wheel sharply to plow the car through a knot of zombies that had shuffled into view from a nearby alleyway, sending them flying every which way across the road in pieces.

"Do you ever worry that we've become too jaded?" Dipper asked as he heard the wheels thump over yet another groaning body.

"Nah... I mean, yeah we've seen some messed up stuff," Mabel said, "but its not like this is anything too big, right? I mean its just zombies."

"Yeah, I guess they are sort of over-exposed," Dipper replied, "it almost feels sort of cliched to be honest." _What am I even saying? _He thought.

"I know, right?" Mabel said. _This has to be the weirdest conversation we've had yet, _she thought to herself.

"I think I can see where they are coming from!" Dipper said, pointing forward. "Head over toward the old graveyard!"

"Aye aye!" Mabel said cheerily, the surreal nature of their situation sending her thoughts into giggling fits. "Now do you see the benefit of utility belts?" she asked.

"Is this really the time for the utility belt conversation?" Dipper asked.

"Well I'm sorry, it never stops being relevant whenever this junk happens!" Mabel said.

"Ok, if we survive I'll wear the utility belt!" Dipper replied.

"I'm holding you to that." Mabel replied and the two found themselves breaking into wild frantic laughter as the car veered through the flung open gates of the old cemetery.

–

A wide circle was drawn into the earth in the heart of the graveyard in piles of thick white powder, and the flickering light of the fire in the center illuminated a pair of robed figures standing huddled together. One clutched a book tightly in a shaking hand, and their hooded heads darted and swiveled this way and that at the darkness around them.

"Jeremy I think this was a really stupid idea." the taller figure said.

"Yeah, I can see that now." said the shorter figure in an annoyed tone as he scanned through the book frantically.

"Seriously, did you know this would actually work? I thought you had just been messing with me about this junk." the taller figure quailed.

"Honestly, I wasn't sure it would. Now I really wish I'd been wrong." Jeremy said.

"Does it say how to... un-zombie them?" the taller one asked, shaking his companion by the shoulders with panic gripping his voice.

"That's a very good question," a voice called out from the darkness. The two turned and saw a gruesome animalish figure stalking toward them in the firelight with a bloody machete clutched in its hand.

"Crap! You didn't say anything about a werewolf too dude!" the taller one yelled.

"Its a costume you jackass!" a female voice called out and they saw a girl following behind him with a weird looking shovel in her hand and an expression of extreme irritation on her otherwise cute face.

"We're so sorry! We just thought it would help us meet chicks!" the one called Jeremy said as he backed away slowly from the strangers holding their obviously recently used weapons.

"What, like dead chicks?" Dipper asked, confusion mingling with disgust in his voice.

"No! I mean... like, we figured it would make us cool... you know, if we could do magic." the taller one said defensively.

"Hey, here's a tip for the future," Mabel said, her voice thick with sarcasm, "girls don't like zombies you dingbat!"

"I don't know, what about your first boyfriend?" Dipper said as he turned to Mabel with a playful note in his voice.

"Don't you start! I'm still too pissed at these guys." Mabel snapped.

"Ok, well... there is a way to undo the spell, but..." Jeremy began.

"But what?" Dipper growled, taking a threatening step toward him.

"Um... the thing about zombies is that they don't want to be dead... so if we try to.. un-zombie them, they _might _try to swarm over and kill us to prevent it." Jeremy said hesitantly.

"Dude, why didn't you read this this all the way through before we started?" his friend asked in a stunned tone.

"Seriously." Mabel added.

"Ok, everyone shut up." Dipper snapped. "How long should it take to do the un-zombie thing?"

"Judging by the book here... like, fifteen minutes." Jeremy said.

"During which time every zombie in town will come streaming back to the graveyard to try and eat your face, right?" Mabel said.

"Um... yes." Jeremy said, blanching at the thought.

"Well, I can't see a downside – get cracking nerd." Mabel said grimly as she choked up her grip on the spade.

"No way! I'm not dying tonight. You guys can deal with this junk on your own." the taller boy said as he tried to back off.

"No one is dying tonight!" Dipper said loudly, "Now, I'll hold back the zombies – Mabel you stay here."

"What! No way!" Mabel shouted in frustration.

"Yes! You need to stay here and make sure these idiots finish the ritual or else the whole town might get overrun." Dipper said before turning to glare at the two robed boys shaking by the firelight, "If they try and run before they finish, break their legs."

Mabel looked at Dipper and saw him in the firelight, his breathing deep and steady and his face still covered in that ridiculous werewolf mask. _Why does he always have to do this... try and throw himself in danger to keep me safe. Doesn't he know I want _him_ safe more than anything? _She walked over to Dipper and pulled his face down to hers for a crushing kiss that set her blood pounding in her ears.

"You better come back alright buttface." she said quietly as they broke the kiss.

"Count on it," Dipper replied with an easy grin that he didn't feel at all. He hefted the heavy blade in his hands and took a deep breath before stepping outside the circle, scanning around for anything that could try and approach.

Mabel walked over quietly to Jeremy and his friend and said to them, quietly, "Just so you guys know, if he gets hurt I'm going to personally make sure that there won't be enough left of you to turn into a zombie. Got that?

"Yes ma'am." Jeremy shuddered.

"Whatever you say!" his friend agreed with frantic nods of his head.

"Good, we understand each other. Now get cracking!" she said menacingly.

The two boys flipped through the book until they came upon the appropriate passage and began to chant in faltering voices, hesitantly droning out the clumsy and unfamiliar words. Mabel shuddered as she felt a chill wind start to rise in the air, and she heard a dull wail seem to echo out from all around them. She strained her eyes in the darkness beyond the fire and saw some figures begin to appear here and there in the distance, their slow shuffling steps bringing them closer to the circle. Mabel glanced over at Dipper and saw his back straighten as he spotted the approaching dead and he gave a few practice swings of the machete before he stalked out into the darkness to meet them

"Whatever it is you are doing you better hurry up!" Mabel shouted as she turned back to the two would-be necromancers.

The two nodded frantically as they continued their chanting, their voices rising as if they were being overtaken from something _outside _and the clouds overhead began to darken and roil madly, arcing with flashes of weird emerald light that cast crazy shadows across the graveyard. Mabel saw a huddling crowd in the distance and heard her brothers familiar voice raised up in furious shouting, hidden from view by the crush of bodies surrounding him. _I gotta go help him! _

Lightning crashed down suddenly, thick and blinding from the clouds overhead splitting the air with a sound that shook Mabel's teeth in her head. The fire behind her began to flare high and hot, its flames burning a sickly green shade. Without warning a searing beam of flame thin as a pencil shot out from the heart of the fire and tore through the crowd of zombies in the distance engulfing the area in a blast of light and heat and sound that sent Mabel tumbling off her feet. She rose to her feet unsteadily, the fire now returned to its normal orange and gold shades and the graveyard entirely devoid of sound save for the crackling of the smoking logs and the wind soughing through the trees. _Dipper!_

Her heart caught up in her throat, Mabel ran unsteadily through the darkened grounds, drawing closer to the mass of bodies in the distance. _Pleasebeokaypleasebeokaypleasebeokay!_

An arm shot up from the center of the pile of un-zombied bodies and Dipper clawed his way up unsteadily, glancing around in surprise before he was thrown off his feet again as Mabel threw herself at him, wrapping her arms crushingly tight around his chest and crushing her lips to his so hard that it hurt.

"Wait.." Dipper said blearily, "let me shower first... I think I still have some zombie on me."

"Don't ever do anything like that again!" Mabel said, tears streaming from her eyes as she buried her face in her brothers chest.

"Promise." Dipper said quietly, "From now on I'll leave the zombie hunting to video games."

"Good." she said as she drew back and looked up into his eyes, his face dirty and the werewolf makeup torn and dangling in pieces off his skin. _I almost lost him. Forever. _

"Now, lets finish business here." Dipper said as he walked back to the circle to the two panting teens lying huddled in the grass. He nudged them with his foot and they looked up at him, fear evident in their eyes. "Hand it over," Dipper said with his hand outstretched.

Wordlessly the book was passed his way and Dipper shuddered at the feel of the unusual texture of the leather on the cover. _Where did they even get this thing? What other secrets are in it? _He turned and glanced at Mabel and saw her expression as he had examined the book with curiosity. _Probably better not to know them, _he thought before tossing the book into the fire with only a slight pang of regret.

"Aw man, I borrowed that from the library!" Jeremy groaned at seeing the book burn.

"Library fines are going to be the least of your worries if you ever try anything like this again," Mabel said grimly as she drew her foot back and gave him a short hard kick to the ribs, causing him to double up and gasp.

"We're done with this stuff! Promise!" the second boy said, his hands raised frantically.

"Good." Dipper said, his voice heavy with the exhaustion of the night, "Then get the hell out of here. Make sure to put out the fire before you go." he added, taking Mabel's hand in his own and leading her back to the car.

"What, we can go just like that?" Jeremy called out in surprise.

"Yeah. Its not like the cops would believe us if we told them about a zombie attack," Dipper said, "actually I'm not sure that its even against the law to raise the dead to be honest."

"We should write to our congressmen about that." Mabel joked, the relief that had flooded her on seeing her brother alive making her lightheaded.

"I thought you were our congressmen?" Dipper joked back.

"That was six years ago, so I think my term has already ended." Mabel replied.

"Good point." Dipper said. "So how was this date?"

"Not as good as the first," Mabel conceded, "but I'm sure the next one will be better."

"Yeah, maybe we could go on a picnic or something?" Dipper said.

"Oh, that would be nice!" Mabel said cheerfully.

The twins drove off into the night, leaving the stunned pair of teenage sorcerers alone in the graveyard.

"Do you have any idea who they were?" Jeremy asked.

"Not a clue. Seriously though man, this has gotta have been your worst idea to meet girls yet." his friend replied.


End file.
